ANDREW REILLY has written a valuable new career guide, particularly for those actors that are not presently living in New York or LA. "An Actor's Business - How to Market Yourself as an Actor No Matter Where you Live" (Sentient Publications, 2004, $16.95) breaks down the local theatrical situation in a dozen different places, including Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Arizona and Texas. Mr. Reilly, a well-known teacher, dispenses excellent advice about the basics, photos, resumes, getting an agent and so on.

EARLY RESPONSE to "The Actor's Field Guide: Acting Notes on the Run" (Backstage Books, 2004, $18.95), by Š ahemŠme, is 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 class as possible without her having to get sweaty hands and present an actual scene. Here's a link: http://www.edhooks.com/books_hooks.htm

HOOKS ACTORS WORKING
Look for MIA PASCHAL (all classes '98-'03) performing in "some life", her exciting solo show, at the upcoming San Francisco Fringe Festival. It will run at the EXIT Stage Left, 156 Eddy St. in SF Sept. 9th, 13th, 18th and 19th. Directed by Emily Koch, written and performed by Mia, with lighting design by Curtis Overacre, "some life" will show you 13 facets of a black woman in these United States. For more info, visit Mia's web site, http://home.earthlink.net/~miapaschal/chaoticheart/. JOSEPHINE DEJESUS (all classes '99-''02 ) formerly of San Francisco and now of Chicago, booked a national TV spot for Chevrolet. LARRY GULLI (f/TV '02), formerly of Chicago and now of LA, is appearing in a stage production of "Twelve Angry Men".

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.)

2004
Sept. 21-22 Walt Disney Feature Animation -- Burbank

Sept. 24-26 Cineme 2004
Chicago, Illinois

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

Oct 13-16 Dundee, Scotland, Projector 2004 Animation Festival

Oct 30-31 College of Creative Studies
Detroit, Michigan

Nov 4 Montreal Game Summit
Montreal, Canada

Nov 22-27 SAND '04, Swansea Animation Days
Swansea, South Wales

Nov 29 National Film & Television School
Beaconsfield, UK

2005
Jan 22-23 College of Creative Studies
Detroit, Michigan

Jan 31-Feb 4 Animex '05
Teesside England

April 20-23 Louisiana State University Animation Festival

April 28 - May 1, FMX Animation Festival
Stuttgart Germany

May 2-3 Filmakademie Baden-Wurtemberg
Ludwigsberg, Germany

June 6-11 Annecy, France

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
"KEEP YOUR KNEES TOGETHER"

Recently I was watching an actor in class work on a role from Harold Pinter's "Betrayal". He was doing a fine job with it except that his words and attitude were British and his body language was American. I suggested to him that he not slouch and that he keep his knees together when he was sitting on a chair in the scene. He took the adjustment, and the scene improved seventy percent.

A physical adjustment is often the key to a characterization, but it is just as often the very last thing an actor in rehearsal considers. I'm not certain why that is the case, but I suspect a physical adjustment represents a form of commitment to the character, and many actors like to sort of sidle up to the character words-first.

A possible back-door approach to physicalization is to imagine a real world model for the character you are potraying. I have seen remarkable evolution in performance when an actor would, for example, try causing her character to walk like Hillary Clinton or adopt the inner rhythms of Joe Pesci or Woody Allen. It is a rehearsal trick, something to get the actor out of her head. A strong imitation of a real-world person literally propels the actor into a physicalization, forcing a new interpretation of the words.

Unfortunately, many new actors seem to think that acting is about taking a scene and simply speaking the words naturally. That's why they spend all that time doing repetition exercises. Such a performer will strive to turn every single character into a variation of his own walking-around personality. He will try to impose his own rhythms on the character and will justify the character in terms of himself. Remember when you were in high school and first started acting? There was a "pretend" element to it, with kids playing adult roles and all that. Well, even as a grown up professional actor, there still ought to be that element of pretend. The idea is not to let them catch you at it. <g>

Here is a short list of possible rehearsal techniques to keep in mind:

1) Is your character's inner rhythm different from your own? Every person has his or her own rhythm and sense of life.
2) Where does your character hold tension in his body? Neck? Lower back?
3) If your character were an animal, what kind of animal would she be? How does that animal move? Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire" was an ape; Dustin Hoffman's character in "Midnight Cowboy" was a rat. Alma in "Summer and Smoke" is a bird.
4) Can you think of anybody in real life that might be similar to your character? I remember one male actor telling me that his most successful characterization was based on his grandmother!

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