A BRITISH VALENTINE TO CHICAGO THEATRE
Michael Billington, theatre critic for The Guardian in the UK, visited Chicago this past June for a look-see at the theatre scene. It's a rave. Take a look

My good friend ERIC MAISEL is running some fascinating-sounding COACHING THE ARTIST WITHIN retreats, one in San Francisco and one in Paris. For further info contact Eric at ericmaisel@hotmail.com.

HOOKS ACTORS WORKING
Eytan Lasca (s.stdy current) recently appeared in "Amor sin Piedad" (Love Without Mercy), a drama by Holworthy Hall and J. Middlewass (Spanish version by F. at Panos Productions). Joy de la Paz (s.stdy current) is playing the role of Peter in the indie film "Die Jesus Die". Brian Adoff (s.stdy current) appears in 'Twilight of the Golds" Jan 28-Feb 6 at Chicago's Profiles Theatre, 4147 N. Broadway. Ray Renati (s.stdy '99) appeared in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at The Pear Avenue Theatre in Mountain View, CA.. Mary Jo Mrochinski (all classes '99-'01) appeared in "The Comedy Hotel Laugh-In Style"wa-a-a-ay back on Nov 17th. She performed a monologue from her in-development one-woman show, "Love Letters from Prison". Larry Guli (f/tv '00) landed a gig doing some motion capture work for Sony Playstation in San Diego. Cassie Powell (s.stdy '03) appears at BRAVA Theatre Center in "Jane: Abortion and the Underground" for one night only, January 22nd. This is a benefit performance for Planned Parenthood Golden Gate and takes place on the 33rd anniversary of Roe v Wade. For more info: http://www.ppgg.org/ or http://www.brava.org. Tickets are $10-$30.

ED HOOKS'S UPCOMING SCHEDULE
(Most of these dates are in connection with my Acting for Animators workshops. If I am in your area, however, and you would like to arrange a private coaching session, I often have time to do it. And of course, if I am teaching an Acting for Animators a workshop that is open to the public, you are welcome to join us.)

Jan 31-Feb 4 Animex International Festival of Animation, Teesside England

Feb 7-8 Valve, Bellevue Washington

Feb 19-20 Singapore - public class. For info contact Margaret Miles

March 7-8 Game Developers Conference, San Francisco

April 20-23 Louisiana State University Animation Festival, Baton Rouge

April 28 - May 1, FMX Animation Festival, Stuttgart Germany

May 2-3 Filmakademie Baden-Wurtemberg, Ludwigsberg, Germany

June 6-11 Annecy, France

June 13-15 Full Sail School of Computer Animation, Winter Park, Florida

CHICAGO CLASS SCHEDULE
SCENE STUDY -- On-going, Thursday nights, 7-10:30pm at The Audition Studio, 20 West Hubbard Street, #2W. Free audit, start any time. $135 per month, sixteen-week commitment.

CRAFT NOTES
Acting to Survive

A Chicago native named Nate Berkus appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show recently, to tell how he managed to survive the awful tsunami in Sri Lanka. Several other survivors joined him on the program, each with his own astonishing story. Tears flowed freely in the studio audience and, I'm sure, across America. It is still difficult to believe that so many people could have been killed so quickly from an act of nature. It is as if the moon suddenly fell from the sky.

Something Nate said, however, keeps reverberating in my brain, and it has relevance to the arts in general and an actor's craft in particular. I must paraphrase him unfortunately because I did not tape the show, but I think I have it pretty close. He was talking about what happened as he was clinging to the top of a telephone pole, dodging bodies, glass, furniture and all the rest that was heaving past him in the rushing water. "I lived second by second; each second I decided again to survive. I was aware of the decision. 'If I want to survive, I must do this - or I must do that'" He spoke of time seeming to slow down to a frame-by-frame basis. "My first concern was to survive."

We all act to survive. It is the glue that holds humanity together. When a baby is born, the first thing she does is try to live; when a person dies, the last thing she does is try to live. Nate was facing probable and immediate death, and so his entire being turned to the task of survival. Life is what defines us, survival is our goal, and emotions are the beacons we send to one another.

When you act, your job is to find the survival mechanism in your character, even if it does't make good sense. Each one of us survives in our own way. Many of us make bad choices and decisions and so do not survive very well, or at all. Prisons and cemeteries are full of people that have been unsuccessful in their attempts at survival.

The big acting lesson from the tsunami survivors is that they are still here, and that we care. We empathize with their feelings of sadness when they tell of lost lovers and family. We empathize with their joy when they tell how they managed to pull strangers from the torrential waters.

Television news has pretty much milked whatever ratings it can from the tsunami, and it has turned its attention to George Bush's extravagant inaugural and the contentious confirmation of Condaleesa Rice as Secretary of State. Nate and the other survivors of the tsunami will now try the best they can to resume their lives. But none of them will ever be the same. You can see it in their faces.

It falls to all artists to incorporate this tragedy into our tribal history. It is our responsibility to consider life anew, through a prism that proves how terribly fragile life really is.

It is important that our shamans learn something from this so the lessons may be passed on to our children.

Return to Top