Perspectives / Jesse Hooker Jesse Hooker was an acting apprentice during the 2003-2004 season. He played Justin in After Ashley by Gina Gionfriddo in the 2004 festival, and returned in the 2005 festival to play Quinn in Allison Moore's Hazard County. My first experience with The Humana Festival was at Middlebury College, where a large portion of the student work came directly from the annual Humana Festival Anthologies. One of my first roles there was Kabe in Naomi Wallace's One Flea Spare. Those books served as a menu of plays for us that we could trust to be smart, innovative, sexy and relevant. I applied to the Actors Acting Apprentice Company hoping to get as close to the festival as I could and see how these plays I respected so much were produced, but never in my wildest dreams thinking I would actually be on stage immersed in it. I was cast as Justin in After Ashley by Gina Gionfriddo just a week before rehearsals were to start. Most, if not all of the shows were already rehearsing and I was certainly excited and surely terrified. I carried my script everywhere I went for that month! There was a creative energy in the building that I'll never forget, playwrights huddled up with dramaturgs discussing rewrites, directors discussing design changes, actors learning rewrites, production staff exhibiting Zen-like patience with last-minute changes, apprentices getting any bit of rest, but mainly trying to soak up all the information we could. It was the first moment I realized just how much work it took—hard work—to create these plays and I will always have a profound respect for the process of producing new plays and specifically how that process unfolds at Actors each spring. While I had worked professionally before, I consider Humana and the apprenticeship at Actors the beginning of my career. I hadn't really even thought about moving to New York until meeting all of the actors over the course of the season and the festival. Now many of my friends in New York are in one way or another connected to Actors. I have had the amazing opportunity to not only return last season for Hazard County, but to have done workshops and readings with playwrights and actors I met through the festival. When I mention the festival to actors, directors or playwrights, there is always a resounding "I have always wanted to be there and be a part of it!" or "I hear it's amazing!" What they hear about, from those who have been involved, is the inspiration of being surrounded by so many talented people from every aspect of the theatre, the support from fellow actors, directors, designers, the Actors staff, and the apprentice company, all unified towards a common goal, creating dynamic new plays. I think this is part of what brings out such great plays and great performances each year. Happy 30th Humana!