Meisner Acting - Living a Truthful Life with Authentic Emotions and Behaviors
Rooted in the work of master acting teacher Sanford Meisner, Meisner acting classes use a series of exercises that build upon each other progressively, until the most complex skills are mastered. A student that experiences Meisner acting classes will soon discover that they will never be done learning the craft of acting. Phrases such as improvisation, personal response, emotional memory, emotional preparation will take on new meaning for the student as they work through these exercises from simple repetitive phrase exercises to scene studies with complex texts.
In the beginning, Meisner acting classes may seem too simplistic, lacking real dialogue or "story" to work with. The aim of these beginning exercises is to remove the crutch of dialogue and storyline, and instead teach the students to use emotional clues they get from other actors. Over time, if they remain open to the process, students in Meisner acting classes learn to rely on the emotional cues they get from other players in a scene or exercise and use them to create and live in a new reality they are creating in the moment.
Known for asking the same pointed questions again and again as students worked, Meisner's goal was to make the student aware that they needed to be fully committed to their emotional responses and have a purpose for actions that would propel the story forward. With the Meisner technique even sleeping or being still is considered an "action" that requires purpose. Meisner was considered by many to be a tough, yet brilliant coach, who was known for coining the phrase "acting is doing." His other well known saying "an ounce of behavior is worth a pound of words," is a good way to sum up his theory about acting. Dialogue will have no meaning, unless it is delivered by someone living a truthful life, with authentic emotions and behaviors.
The student who excels is one who recognizes this and discovers an ability to create a new reality every time they act, even if for a simple acting class exercise. Enroll in the proper acting classes nyc and you will discover how to use the sounds, emotions and physical expressions of the other players to have authentic, truthful moments every time you act. No matter how good a student is at it, "pretending" rather than "being" is a bad acting habit that needs to be broken. Once bad habits are broken in Meisner acting classes an actor becomes completely self forgetful, able to "be" someone else, rather than merely pretending. One aims to achieve complete self-forgetfulness, while at the same time developing complete "mindfulness" of the character and the new reality he or she is a part of creating. If this sounds difficult, then this training might be for you. Too many up and coming acting students believe acting is simply a matter of "becoming someone else" and reciting the lines as given, and doing it well. The Meisner acting technique will force you to work far more deeply than that. Yes, you essentially become someone else but, not a pre-determined someone else. Instead you become someone new,someone real, that changes as the work progresses in unrehearsed ways.
By creating an imagined set of circumstances, including a character's history of needs and wants, failures etc, and living them out, the student of Meisner learns to allow the character emerge and change as the project story plays out. There is a behavioral aspect to this which involves theories about adaptation and communication, and an emotional aspect that stems from the Americanized discipline called Method acting. Sanford Meisner felt that American acting was different and put his own unique stamp on the training, while at the same time developing a whole new system, which has produced some of the greatest actors of all time.
Committing to emotional responses and physical actions and focusing only on what the other actors are doing is the way to propel a story forward with energy and excitement is the foundation of Meisner acting. Self forgetfulness, and allowing the impulses of other actors to guide you, is the way to create a whole new reality, that reveals itself moment by moment. The performance will have an edge, a sense of reality that is hard to create unless spontaneity is constantly at work. This, in fact, mimics life. This is, in fact, how we live; having no idea what may happen at any moment, how others might react, what they will say, what we will say in return. This ability to re-create "real life" as it unfolds, telling the story in a way that you genuinely having no idea how the story will unfold every time, is the most important thing you can learn in Meisner acting.
In the beginning, Meisner acting classes may seem too simplistic, lacking real dialogue or "story" to work with. The aim of these beginning exercises is to remove the crutch of dialogue and storyline, and instead teach the students to use emotional clues they get from other actors. Over time, if they remain open to the process, students in Meisner acting classes learn to rely on the emotional cues they get from other players in a scene or exercise and use them to create and live in a new reality they are creating in the moment.
Known for asking the same pointed questions again and again as students worked, Meisner's goal was to make the student aware that they needed to be fully committed to their emotional responses and have a purpose for actions that would propel the story forward. With the Meisner technique even sleeping or being still is considered an "action" that requires purpose. Meisner was considered by many to be a tough, yet brilliant coach, who was known for coining the phrase "acting is doing." His other well known saying "an ounce of behavior is worth a pound of words," is a good way to sum up his theory about acting. Dialogue will have no meaning, unless it is delivered by someone living a truthful life, with authentic emotions and behaviors.
The student who excels is one who recognizes this and discovers an ability to create a new reality every time they act, even if for a simple acting class exercise. Enroll in the proper acting classes nyc and you will discover how to use the sounds, emotions and physical expressions of the other players to have authentic, truthful moments every time you act. No matter how good a student is at it, "pretending" rather than "being" is a bad acting habit that needs to be broken. Once bad habits are broken in Meisner acting classes an actor becomes completely self forgetful, able to "be" someone else, rather than merely pretending. One aims to achieve complete self-forgetfulness, while at the same time developing complete "mindfulness" of the character and the new reality he or she is a part of creating. If this sounds difficult, then this training might be for you. Too many up and coming acting students believe acting is simply a matter of "becoming someone else" and reciting the lines as given, and doing it well. The Meisner acting technique will force you to work far more deeply than that. Yes, you essentially become someone else but, not a pre-determined someone else. Instead you become someone new,someone real, that changes as the work progresses in unrehearsed ways.
By creating an imagined set of circumstances, including a character's history of needs and wants, failures etc, and living them out, the student of Meisner learns to allow the character emerge and change as the project story plays out. There is a behavioral aspect to this which involves theories about adaptation and communication, and an emotional aspect that stems from the Americanized discipline called Method acting. Sanford Meisner felt that American acting was different and put his own unique stamp on the training, while at the same time developing a whole new system, which has produced some of the greatest actors of all time.
Committing to emotional responses and physical actions and focusing only on what the other actors are doing is the way to propel a story forward with energy and excitement is the foundation of Meisner acting. Self forgetfulness, and allowing the impulses of other actors to guide you, is the way to create a whole new reality, that reveals itself moment by moment. The performance will have an edge, a sense of reality that is hard to create unless spontaneity is constantly at work. This, in fact, mimics life. This is, in fact, how we live; having no idea what may happen at any moment, how others might react, what they will say, what we will say in return. This ability to re-create "real life" as it unfolds, telling the story in a way that you genuinely having no idea how the story will unfold every time, is the most important thing you can learn in Meisner acting.
About the Author:
The Maggie Flanigan Studio provides acting classes in nyc for serious, committed actors. To learn more about meisner summer intensive you can visit the studio website.