LABAN! LABAN! LABAN!
Jean Newlove's workshops in Laban Movement Theory are filling up, so you have to get your deposit in if you want to be included. (Workshop costs $250 if registered in advance, $275 at the door if space is available. Deposit is $100. ) Feb. 19-20 and Feb 26-27, 10am-5pm each day. These are very rare, very special workshops for the Bay Area, and Ms. Newlove is coming all the way from London, England to teach them. I hope you'll join us. Laban is invaluable for actors, dancers and animators. For more info, send me an e-mail. edhooks@best.com.

ACTING FOR ANIMATORS workshop, Saturday, March 18th, in San Francisco! 10am - 5pm at my studio, 70 Oak Street. This will be the first local AFA class I have taught since last September. Tuition is only $125.

CRAFT NOTES
"The Passionate Artist"

When I think of the word "passion" as it applies to the artist, I think of lust and hunger to communicate, personal determination, a Never-Say-Die, Never-Let-Up attitude. Passion isn't something you learn in a class. On the contrary, it is what motivates you to enroll in the first place! A talented teacher can help you channel and release your passion, but he can't manufacture it where it doesn't exist.

Think of the performances that stand out in your memory as special, those moments on stage or screen that took your breath away. What do they have in common if not passion? For me, I think immediately of Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront", Chaplin's final scene with the Flower Girl in "City Lights"....., Irene Worth on Broadway as Princess Kosmopolous in "Sweet Bird of Youth", Jason Robards doing O'Neil. These are performances that go the extra distance, becoming a personal statement by the artist.

I submit that artistic passion has the following elements:

1) The willingness to risk. True, if you take a risk, you may fail. On the other hand, if you do not take a risk, you will never know the exultation of success. In acting, you should always make choices that are bold enough to fail.

2) A strong point of view. It is a truism that there is no such thing as a dumb good actor. The passionate artist cares enough about things to form opinions, to take stands. This is not to suggest that the artist is necessarily correct. God knows we have all seen some wrong-headed artists! The important thing is that he care, that he stand his ground, that he wear it on his sleeve. Think of Vanessa Redgrave, for example. A lot of people don't like what she thinks, but the passion of her convictions is what makes her a great actress.

3) A love of humanity. If you do not care deeply about how we are living on this earth and about the qualities we share in common as humans, then why bother saying anything at all? Actors are shamans.

4) A strong sense of priorities. Fame does not equate to artistry. A gig is a gig, and there is no virtue in being a starving artist. There are times when you have to work for the rent (Despite what David Mamet has to say about it! Read "True and False".). But a great artist will keep seeking opportunities to express herself.

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