SHIFTING ROLES
New Mexico pair buy acting academy after teaching for nearly 7 years
Chris Ranney and Ron Weisberg are all in when it comes to the film industry. It’s not enough that both men are actors.
They’ve constantly stepped into different roles with ease.
The duo’s latest role is challenging — and they love it.
Ranney and Weisberg are the co-owners of Sol Acting Academy, since Dec. 8.
Weisberg and Ranney were teaching for nearly seven years together.
“It was pretty informal,” Weisberg says. “We’d have a group of people who showed up weekly. Sometimes it would be two, and sometimes it would be eight or 12. We were consistent with teaching.”
Then Weisberg went to Los Angeles to study.
While there, he took a class with The Groundlings — a comedy group — and met Sam Christenson.
During that time, Ranney was back in Albuquerque working in the film industry and Vivian Nesbitt — former owner of Sol — asked me if I wanted to buy an acting school.
“Ron and I always wanted to find a home for our classes,” Ranney says. “We jumped around to different venues.”
Not long afterward, Ranney called him and asked, “Do you want to buy an acting school?”
After nearly five months of owning Sol, Ranney and Weisberg are taking the academy into new areas.
This includes many workshops scheduled through the year.
For instance, from 6 to 8 tonight, Sol will host an open actor gym, which runs every other Friday.
The class takes students through various acting exercises and lessons. The cost is $25 at the door or by signing up online at solacting.com.
Sol is also offering a free class from 6-8 Saturday, May 5. This is taught by Weisberg and Chris Corona. It is free and all you have to do is show up.
“This is an opportunity for people to come in and get all the dust off,” Ranney says.
Because Weisberg spent time in LA and took comedy classes, he is adding that to Sol’s repertoire.
The only reason we’re going to have character improv is because I went to Groundlings,” Weisberg says. “You need to be able to create a character and go. This is the upside to coming to these classes. We’re getting the opportunity to bring in some world-class teachers for these workshops.”
The character improv class will be held from May 10-June 14 on Thursdays.
Weisberg is excited about Sol’s future and couldn’t have found a better partner in Ranney.
“We quickly realized why Chris would be great at running the academy,” Weisberg says. “He has the contacts and he’s in the business. It’s not an easy business to keep standing up. We’re a good team, and we each bring something different.”
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