Early response to "The Actor's Field Guide: Acting Notes on the Run" (Backstage Books, 2004, $18.95) are very encouraging. I really appreciate the many e-mails I have received about the book. The acting notes in "The Actor's Field Guide" will place the reader just about as close to my acting classes as possible without physically being there.

Bob Dylan's autobiography, "Chronicles, Volume One" (Simon & Schuster, 2004), is a terrific read. I picked up a copy at Heathrow airport in London and couldn't put the thing down during a seven-hour flight back to Chicago. The reclusive Dylan is surprisingly candid about his successes and failures, bouts with writer's block, the pluses and minuses of fame and all the rest of it. Turns out he was a fan of Neil Sedaka and liked Barry Goldwater in his early days. Who knew?

HOOKS ACTORS WORKING
Mia Paschal's (all classes '98-'03) solo show,"some life" won Best Female Solo Performance at the SF Fringe Festival. Congrats, Mia! Ray Renati (s.stdy '99) appeared in CABARET at Broadway by the Bay in San Mateo, CA. He will also be playing Demetrius in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Pear Avenue Theatre in Palo Alto this winter and recently finished up at Foothill Music Theatre in the role of J.P. Morgan in RAGTIME. Ray also shot commercials for My Free Choice Phone Company and SeeWhichCompanyTanks.com. Brett Sharenow (s. stdy & prvt coaching '03 & '04) will be an understudy for the dual roles of The Nasty Intelligent Man and The Lord of the Underworld as a Child in the upcoming modern version of the play "Eurydice" written by Sarah Ruhl, at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Jeanne Dohm (f/tv 2002) is appearing in "The Man Who Came to Dinner" at Chicago's Gunder Mansion, Nov 21-Jan 16. For info, call 773-764-0353. Shemone Buie-Valdez (s. stdy '04) will understudy for the role of Big Stone, and Jennifer Wilson (s. stdy '04) will understudy for the role of Loud Stone, both in the same production of "Eurydice" at Berkeley Rep. Brett, Shemone and Jennifer are founding members of the East Bay Theatre Group in Oakland, CA. "Eurydice" will be performed October 15 through November 15. Mary Jo Mrochinski (all classes '99-01)is featured in the indie film, "The Perfect Party" which, premiered on Oct. 6th. as part of The New York Independent Film and Video Festival. Jaxy Boyd (all classes '94-'96) is performing in two short plays, "Picking" by Suzan-Lori Parks and "The Sandalwood Box" by Mac Wellman, both at The Cutting Ball Theatre in San Francisco. She's also done recent radio ads for UC Davis Medical Center. Sarah Ibis (s.stdy- current) is appearing as Lady Macbeth in Trama Theatre production at Crossroads Theater, 22 E. Chicago Ave. in Downtown Naperville. Oct. 29th and 30th 7:30pm and 10:30pm, Nov. 5th, 6th 7:30pm, Nov 7th 2:30pm, Nov. 12, 13th 7:30pm, and Nov. 14th 2:30pm.

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
THE PASSIONATE ARTIST

Listen up, boys and girls. I have your homework assignment for the weekend.

I want you to take out a yellow-lined pad and make a list of five things that you feel passionate about. I am talking true passion now, not just keen interest. I understand you may be passionate about chocolate pie or The Red Sox or spending time under a blanket with your sweetie, but that's not it. I want a list of five things for which you would storm the barricades or spend time in jail. This is a list of five things that get your back hair up and cause you to mimic Howard Beale in the classic movie "Network" when he yelled into the TV camera: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more!"

Martin Sheen is passionate about eliminating the dangers of nuclear energy, and he has been arrested a number of times while protesting at nuclear plants. Christopher Reeve was passionate about the need for embryonic stem cell research. Bridgette Bardot is almost insanely passionate about animal rights. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were passionate about racial equality. Van Gogh, in a fit of passion, cut off his own ear. I'm not sure what he was so worked up about but I have a hunch he was passionate about Gauguin. Gallileo passionately insisted that the earth was moving around the sun and not the other way around. Nelson Mandela was passionate about eliminating apartheid in South Africa. Vanessa Redgrave is passionate about Zionism. Barbra Streisand is passionate about liberal political candidates.

I could go on and on obviously. The point is that it really does not matter what you are passionate about or if anybody else agrees with you.. A life that lacks passion is not worth living, it's as simple as that. Actors are shamans, and shamans have passion. The arts are not about having parlor discussions with like-minded friends on issues of the day. They are about cutting against the grain, going against the status quo, upsetting the apple cart. The arts are about stimulating the emotions and jolting the complacent out of his stupor.

Peter Brook says "No matter how much you love, your character loves more; no matter how much you hate, your character hates more; no matter how much you care, your character cares more." Passion! It is all about passion. What do you care about in this world? What do you want the tribe to understand about your perspective on things? What is important to you? Your passions matter.

I'll lead off by doing the homework myself. Here are five things I personally feel passionate about. I would storm the barricades over any of them.

1) Abolition of capital punishment
2) An end to the de facto class system in the U.S.
3) A woman's right to choose
4) Gay rights
5) Healthcare and education for every person on earth

I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it any more. See you at the polls on November 2nd.

(Here's a link to the complete speech by Howard Beale: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechnetwork2.html)

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