The Acting for Animators classes I taught at Filmakademie were well attended by some of the most outstanding young animation students I have ever seen. I'm still marveling at the ingenuity of their class projects and am looking forward to a return to Stuttgart next year, to see the final results.

Prior to Germany, my wife, Cally, and I spent two relaxing weeks in Italy, hanging out in Tuscany and Positano (where small colored glass beads are mixed in with the black sand on the beach). We did very few museum excursions this trip, except to visit the recently renovated Galleria Borghese exhibit in Rome, which was elegant with its Bernini sculptures and dramatic gladiator mosaics from Imperial Rome. Instead of museum- hopping, we spent our time mainly lazing around in the hot Italian sunshine, sipping fine Chianti and nibbling on cheeses. There may be a more pleasurable way to pass an afternoon that strolling on a Tuscan hillside, but I haven't found it yet. If anybody is heading for Italy, by the way, we discovered a terrific little Osteria just outside San Gimignano, on the road to Volterra......

HOOKS STUDENTS WORKING
JUDY MARTIN (comml - '99) is in a Palo Alto Players production of the farce "Jest a Second", directed by Arturo Catricala. The show runs June 19th - July 13th. For tickets, call (650)329-0891. DIANE TASCA (scene study - current), LIZ ELMS (all classes - '90-'98) AND ERIC SWARTZ (scene study & comml - '99) are featured in "Fanny and Walt", a new play by Jewel Seehaus, which is about Walt Whitman and his relationship with journalist Fanny Fern. Runs through June 26th at Venue 9 in San Francisco. For reservations, call (415)289-2000. MARY JO MROCHINSKI (s.stdy - '96-'98) stars in "Parallel Lives" at the New Conservatory Theatre in SF, running Thurs., Fri., Sat. thru July 31, For tickets, call (415)861-4914. PHIL SHERIDAN (comml & f/tv - '97) plays a bizarre doctor in an equally bizarre film comedy World Record Guy written and directed by Mitch Braff and Chris Thompson. MIA PASCHAL (scene study -- current) shot an independent film entitled: "Facing the Mirror", directed by Adrienne Fawkes. HARRY FARMER (scene study '97-'99) has been cast in "A Streetcar Named Desire" at Sonoma County Rep in Santa Rosa, running until June 26. JEFFREY DEAN (f/tv - '99) landed a national commercial for Go.Com and an industrial for National Semiconductor. ANTOINETTE ABBAMONTE (f/tv - '96) appears in a production of "The House of Bernarda Alba", presented by Deaf West Theatre. The run is May 9 - June 13 at the Ventura Court Theatre in Studio City. For tickets call (818)762-2998. JENNIFER MAYNES (scene study, f/tv '97-'99) and ANNIESCOTT ROGERS (scene study '95-'96) both appeared in "Sound Advice" at Venue 9 in SF. Also, Jennifer landed a multiple-role gig in Arthur Miller's "After the Fall", being presented by Heroes Theatre Company. JIMMY FREEMAN (s.stdy - current) has the male lead in "Butterflies Are Free" at Stage One Repertory Theatre in Newark, California. It runs June 19-July 19. Call (510) 791-0287 for ticket info.

CRAFT NOTES
ARISTOTLE AND THE POETICS

Every serious and curious acting student owes it to himself to read Aristotle's Poetics. This book, over 2,000 years old now, is available at any library and contains the seeds of modern drama. In the Poetics, Aristotle speaks of the origin of drama in Greece, and he gives his impressions of tragedy and comedy. Surprisingly easy to read, the Poetics are really a collection of notes and musings, not a full-tilt book. And, while Aristotle is mainly speaking of the written word, much of it is directly applicable to the spoken word. For example:

"Tragedy is essentially an imitation not of persons but of action and life, of happiness and misery. All human happiness or misery takes the form of action; the end for which we live is a certain kind of activity, not a quality. Character gives us qualities, but it is in our actions -- what we do -- that we are happy or the reverse. In a play accordingly they do not act in order to portray the characters; they include the characters for the sake of the action."

"There are in the natural order of things, therefore, two causes -- Thought and Character -- of their actions, and consequently of their success or failure in their lives."

"The construction of (its) stories should clearly be like that in a drama; they should be based on a single action, one that is a complete whole in itself, with a beginning, middle and end, so as to enable the work to produce its own proper pleasure with all the organic unity of a living creature."

"Given equal natural talent, those dramatists who are themselves emotionally affected are most convincing; one who is himself distressed distresses, one who is angry conveys anger most realistically."

"Diction, to be good, should be clear without being common.....Over-brilliant language obscures both character and thought."

"In expressing character there are four things to aim at. Of these the first and foremost is that the characters should be good. (note: Aristotle may be speaking of a "moral good", but I interpret this -- from an actor's perspective -- to mean that all humans are doing the best they can to survive. The survival mechanisms -- and the points of empathy -- are revealed in positive acting choices. In other words, even if playing a murderer, try to find the "good" in the character, the survivor, the human underneath the monster. ) ..... In the second place, characters must be appropriate or true to type; ... The third aim is to be true to life, and this is different from being good or true to type. The fourth is consistency. Even if the character represented displays inconsistency as a character trait, he must be consistent in his inconsistency."

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