Lessons from Hollywood

A girl and a boy sit barefoot on stage, coping with the realization that an unwanted pregnancy will change their lives. This burden will end the carefree freedom they have known and disrupt the fulfillment of their aspirations. When the scene finishes, the actors await a critique by Jayne Brook, Trinity '82 and star of the television drama "Chicago Hope," who returned to the University Saturday to revisit her alma mater and conduct acting workshops in Griffith Film Theater. During the series of day-long workshops, Brook instructed the students in several scenes and monologues, later taking the role of a casting director as they performed in a mock television audition.

Brook spent the day sharing the insight she has gained in her own career with aspiring actors, offering guidance concerning both their acting and auditioning skills. After the students finished their scenes, Brook instructed them on how to make the plight of their characters more convincing.

"What if I told you that now none of your dreams were going to come true that you weren't going to finish Duke, that you weren't going anywhere, that you're only going to sell electrical appliances?" she asked the male actor, later telling both of the actors to integrate that personal anger and sadness into their work.

After listening to Brook's critique, the actors seemed more in tune to the predicament of their characters when they replayed the scene.

"I think it was very helpful to have the actor's perspective.... [Brook] gave a lot of information for acting for film that [students] usually don't get," Trinity senior Lisa Jackson said.

In the 15 years since she graduated from the University, Brook has enjoyed an eclectic range of acting experiences. In addition to playing the part of Dr. Diane Grad in the hit series "Chicago Hope," Brook has starred in many other feature films and mini-series-including "Bye Bye Love", "Ed" and "Last Dance."

Brook said she caught the acting bug at the University during her first acting class with Drama Professor John Clum, who at the time also instructed her in a scene from "A Streetcar Named Desire." Remembering her first acting experience vividly, Brook recalled playing Blanche DuBois, a character she said was an impossible one for a 19-year old amateur tackling her first role.

Clum remembers Brook as one of his more gifted and promising students.

"You just knew that she had the talent and dedication to go on to have an acting career-I haven't been a bit surprised at her success," he said.

Brook said her loyalty to the Drama Department, which initiated her thriving career, was only part of the reason she returned to conduct the workshops Saturday.

"I also came back really for the students," she said. "I thought if they could get anything out of me telling them what I had done since I had left Duke... that I would enjoy working with them."

These sessions were geared to provide experience for the prospective actors before they faced their first television auditions. After waiting outside the theater, the students were called in one by one to read a short part with Brook. In order to make the audition more realistic, Brook threw in a few stumbling blocks that she said she had encountered during her own auditions.

For example, during Trinity junior Barbara Carolino's audition, Brook faked receiving a cellular phone call to throw off the prospective actress. In other auditions, Brook read the wrong lines, or responded monotonously when responding to a dialogue with an auditioner. After the auditions were finished, Brook complimented the actors on their ability to keep their composure.

"Auditioning is acting," she said, "but it's also a big dose of the reality of being an actor."

After completing the workshop portion of her visit, Brook delivered a short speech on her life as an actress and the work that goes into producing "Chicago Hope," She showed several "dailies,"-various angles of the same short scene shot from different perspectives. She spoke of the hard work and effort necessary for a successful acting career, including spending up to 14 hours a day on the set. Brook also said that professional film acting often differs from theatrical acting.

"People fall in love with acting, and I often say to them when you're a professional, you don't get to act as much," she explained. "You're not really asked to fire on all cylinders."

Brook also discussed her negotiations with the writers of "Chicago Hope" in order to obtain a more important position for her character. Throughout the television program's progression, the writers have encouraged Brook to incorporate her own personality into that of her character.

"I just didn't want to be nice all the time," she said. "If [Diane Grad is] rough sometimes, it's because I roughed her up. The character's changed a lot, because I've worked with the writers a lot. I'm just trying to give her more spark, and they are wonderful in responding."

Brook even offered insights into the relationships of the show's characters. Speaking of her sometimes fiery on-camera relationship with Dr. Billy Kronk, played by Peter Berg, she said, "I think they threw me together with him and then people liked us together and it's gone on and on." She also hinted that the relationship would continue. "Well, we're going to get married and we're going to have a baby, we think."