ED'S NEW BOOK, "THE ACTOR'S FIELD GUIDE: ACTING NOTES ON THE RUN" (Backstage Books, 2004, $18,95), IS AVAILABLE
See Books By Hooks for purchasing information
I loved writing this book. For many months I made notes in my acting class whenever a useful object lesson arose. As you know, acting classes can be wild and wooly at times and very poignant or funny at others. This book captures that spirit. The heart of it is in the notes taken directly from classes and then organized into broad categories such as Audition, Rehearsal, Playing the Scene and Acting in Film. Often, you will read a note and not know what play or scene I am talking about, but you will understand the acting principle nonetheless. When I was pitching the idea of this book to publishers, I insisted that actors would grasp out of context notes because that is often how acting classes work. Sometimes in the book I expand on brief acting notes, writing an additional essay on the topic - similar to what you might see in the Craft Notes of this newsletter. I really hope you enjoy "The Actor's Field Guide: Acting Notes on the Run".

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 frequently 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.)

August 2-3 San Diego, Sony Entertainment of America

Oct 9-10 Sarasota, Florida, Ringling School of Art and Design

Oct 13-16 Dundee, Scotland, Projector Animation Festival

Nov 22-27 Swansea South Wales, Swansea Animation Days

November 29 Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, National Film and TV School, Great Britain http://www.nftsfilm-tv.ac.uk/

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

It is easy to reach The Audition Studio on the CTA red line. Exit at Grand Street and State. Walk two blocks south on State to Hubbard. The #36 Broadway bus also stops very near the school.

PRIVATE COACHING
I'm always available for private coaching. My rate is $75 per hour. We can work on cold reading, career strategies or whatever you want. Call 773-929-1667, or send an e-mail to edhooks@edhooks.com.

CRAFT NOTES
ACTING LESSONS FROM BRANDO
If you want to learn about acting from Marlon Brando, you have to examine his incendiary work in the 1950's when he was in his twenties. Then again when he resurrected himself with "The Godfather" and "Last Tango in Paris" in 1972. His work in the 1960's displayed embers of brilliance but did not ignite, usually because the projects were too quirky. With the probable exceptions of "One-Eyed Jacks" and "Reflections in a Golden Eye", his movies in that period are not memorable. By the mid-late 1970's, Brando became an eccentric parody of his own legend, and his serious career was essentially over.

I suggest that the key to understanding Brando's genius rests in paying close attention to the reasons he gave for turning away. In his later years he dismissed acting as a non-art, something for children to do. He said that the very idea of returning to stage reminded him of a return to hell. The process of acting must have been immensely painful for him early on for him to so strongly turn against it. I am guessing that when he was young and strong, he had the courage of fury. He was purging when he acted, getting rid of demons. He blurred the distinction between art and reality.

I have watched the "Stella!" scene from "A Streetcar Named Desire" so many times that I know every single action in it. When Stanley clasps his hands to his head and cries out for his wife, his scream rattles my bones. Marlon Brando in that moment is nothing less than a wounded animal in the jungle. His pain was palpable. As a fellow human being, I hated to see anybody suffer that much, and yet I knew full well that he was acting. At that point in his career, he was willing to go to such places in his psyche. You climb the mountain because it is there.

And so, on the occasion of Marlon Brando's death, I have reflected on his work and prepared the following list of acting lessons. They go beyond technique. A lot of actors have technique, but there are precious few that can approach what Brando could do with a role. There had to have been other explanations.

1. Don't be afraid. If you are afraid of your own emotions or those of fellow actors, you will never act below the surface level. Acting is not about feeling safe. It is about taking risk.
2. Act physically. Forget the modern digital world and all of the acting theorists. The Meisner Technique won't do it for you, nor will Strasberg's Method. Take your cue from primitive mankind. We are built to do battle if we want to survive. We are built to be sexual. This is the stuff of life and it speaks directly to the heart of the audience.
3. Care. Every human being is a hero in his or her own life. Every human life matters a lot. Do not be a sheep in your life. Risk failure. Care about things and speak up.
4. Listen. Acting is reacting, and nobody listened better than Brando. He listened with his ears and he listened with his body, and he listened with his eyes.
5. Be childlike. Brando was correct when he later observed that acting is for children. This was the quality he lost over time. He lost the willingness to play and pretend. As terrifying as acting can be when it is truthful, it is also fun. Or at least it should be. For Marlon Brando, it got to the point where it wasn't fun any more, and that is the saddest thing of all. I believe in my heart that acting is an honorable thing to do with your life. It is shamanistic. Brando evidently never looked at it that way in the first place. He had reasons of his own for becoming an actor.

Unfortunately, I never saw this man perform on stage, and it is one of the great regrets of my theatrical life. By the time I came into acting, he had stopped doing stage, so my only option was to study his films. I have done that and will continue to do so. I urge the readers of this letter to do the same if you care about great acting. In his prime, Marlon Brando was the best of the best of the best.

"The close-up says everything. It's then that an actor's learned, rehearsed behavior becomes most obvious to an audience and chips away, unconsciously, at its experience of reality. In a close-up, the audience is only inches away, and your face becomes the stage."
Marlon Brando 1924-2004

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