The work of master acting coach Sanford Meisner is what's used in Meisner acting classes, and are comprised of a series of exercises, designed to build increasingly sophisticated acting tools as you progress. Students that take Meisner acting classes often realize that a student of the technique is never actually "done" learning. Improvisation, personal response and emotional memory exercises are just a few of the tools used to help students learn and prepare for increasingly sophisticated skills and acting roles.
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. Learning to stay tuned in to emotional reactions, moment-to-moment, and committing to actions relating to them is a skill acting students develop in Meisner acting classes.
Fond of asking pointed questions of students to help them recognize what how they might be falling short, Meisner continually challenged students to commit and have a purpose for to every action and emotional response. Even activities with no movement, such as resting, sleeping, or sitting still are still considered "actions" and according to the Meisner technique must have a purpose and must propel the story forward. Considered to be a genius, Meisner's favorite phrase "acting is doing," was often drilled into students even if they were standing still. Another one of his famous sayings "an ounce of behavior is worth a pound of words" is telling. The only way dialogue will work is if it is spoken by an actor who is living truthfully in the moment, with authentic emotions and behaviors.
It is about creating a new reality, every moment, even if the actor is simply working on a simple exercise. Many acting classes nyc will train the actor to use sound, feeling, emotion, physical space, and the sounds, emotions and physical expression of the other players to create an edgy exciting performance full of spontaneity. No matter how good a student is at it, "pretending" rather than "being" is a bad acting habit that needs to be broken. Moving beyond the bad habit of "pretending," Meisner acting classes help the student actually "become" someone else, at will. Being mindful, with zero self awareness, of the new reality being created in a piece and being present in it fully as a character, is the greatest experience an actor can have. If this sounds difficult, then this training might be for you. If you are still convinced that acting is merely delivering lines as given, pretending to be a character than perhaps this kind of training is for you. You will have to work far more deeply, both as a person, and as a student of the Meisner acting technique. Rather than establishing a pre-determined character to move into a performance, you actually learn to a become someone else, moment-by-moment making new discoveries all the time. The work challenges you to become someone new, someone that constantly evolves, as the work moves forward.
Students learn to recognize the emotional truth in acting, the goal Meisner classes. 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. Putting his own stamp on method acting principles, Sanford Meisner developed a whole new training technique which has produced some of the most legendary actors of all time.
In order to generate truthful behavior in a new imagined reality, which is what theatre and film are about, an actor must focus on two things: the other actors they are playing with and moving forward in a committed way to the next moment in the scene. This will move the story forward, every moment and every actor will live truthfully and achieve complete self forgetfulness, which is the key to great acting. The performance will have an edge, a sense of reality that is hard to create unless spontaneity is constantly at work. In the end this is also what real life is like. Not knowing what will happen at any moment, we take in what another person says, we react, we respond, we move toward the next thing. Gaining the ability to create this kind of spontaneity onstage with other actors, the lines and story emerging brand new every second, is the most rewarding things you will 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. Learning to stay tuned in to emotional reactions, moment-to-moment, and committing to actions relating to them is a skill acting students develop in Meisner acting classes.
Fond of asking pointed questions of students to help them recognize what how they might be falling short, Meisner continually challenged students to commit and have a purpose for to every action and emotional response. Even activities with no movement, such as resting, sleeping, or sitting still are still considered "actions" and according to the Meisner technique must have a purpose and must propel the story forward. Considered to be a genius, Meisner's favorite phrase "acting is doing," was often drilled into students even if they were standing still. Another one of his famous sayings "an ounce of behavior is worth a pound of words" is telling. The only way dialogue will work is if it is spoken by an actor who is living truthfully in the moment, with authentic emotions and behaviors.
It is about creating a new reality, every moment, even if the actor is simply working on a simple exercise. Many acting classes nyc will train the actor to use sound, feeling, emotion, physical space, and the sounds, emotions and physical expression of the other players to create an edgy exciting performance full of spontaneity. No matter how good a student is at it, "pretending" rather than "being" is a bad acting habit that needs to be broken. Moving beyond the bad habit of "pretending," Meisner acting classes help the student actually "become" someone else, at will. Being mindful, with zero self awareness, of the new reality being created in a piece and being present in it fully as a character, is the greatest experience an actor can have. If this sounds difficult, then this training might be for you. If you are still convinced that acting is merely delivering lines as given, pretending to be a character than perhaps this kind of training is for you. You will have to work far more deeply, both as a person, and as a student of the Meisner acting technique. Rather than establishing a pre-determined character to move into a performance, you actually learn to a become someone else, moment-by-moment making new discoveries all the time. The work challenges you to become someone new, someone that constantly evolves, as the work moves forward.
Students learn to recognize the emotional truth in acting, the goal Meisner classes. 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. Putting his own stamp on method acting principles, Sanford Meisner developed a whole new training technique which has produced some of the most legendary actors of all time.
In order to generate truthful behavior in a new imagined reality, which is what theatre and film are about, an actor must focus on two things: the other actors they are playing with and moving forward in a committed way to the next moment in the scene. This will move the story forward, every moment and every actor will live truthfully and achieve complete self forgetfulness, which is the key to great acting. The performance will have an edge, a sense of reality that is hard to create unless spontaneity is constantly at work. In the end this is also what real life is like. Not knowing what will happen at any moment, we take in what another person says, we react, we respond, we move toward the next thing. Gaining the ability to create this kind of spontaneity onstage with other actors, the lines and story emerging brand new every second, is the most rewarding things you will learn in Meisner acting.
About the Author:
The Maggie Flanigan Studio provides acting classes nyc for serious, committed actors. To learn more about meisner intensive nyc you can visit the studio website.
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