Sandford Meisner was an actor and one of three founders of the Group Theater that became popular in the 1930's. Based in New York City, the Group Theater was a collaborative endeavor launched by Meisner, Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg. The company's goal was to explore and create theater based on the systematic, deliberate acting technique developed by Constantin Stanislavski. A Russian actor/director, Stanislavski is thought to be the first artist to approach acting as a discipline. He developed a series of principles and exercises to help actors explore and master the craft.
Stanislavski's primary exercises involved concentration, physical movements, observation of human behavior, voice and analysis of the dramatic arts. These exercises also included a technique that became referred to as emotional memory. This approach was considered to be the universal approach to acting. Sanford Meisner however, began to consider that certain aspects of this method were too European for American actors to adopt. He later founded the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City to provide the opportunity for American actors to exist onstage, truthfully in the imaginative situations they discovered onstage.
The well respected Meisner technique has been in practice for over six decades. Meisner recognized that internal human emotions trigger impulses, which in turn trigger external behaviors and responses. He believed that a full range of emotional impulses and the resulting spoken responses, physical reactions, voice quality and etc. could be learned, mastered and used to create spontaneous and therefore more provocative performances onstage.
Encouraging actors to freely follow their impulses without their own thoughts editing their reactions was the best way to achieve authentic, humanly truthful performances. In order to be able to do this, actors have to be trained to eliminate their consciousness of being in a performance, and instead to react impulsively and truthfully, in character as the character, an actual person who has its own set of emotional triggers and reactions.
Word repetition exercises are a widely known aspect of the Meisner technique. During this exercise actors repeat a phrase back and forth to each other about something that they have between them. The actors repeat this phrase back and forth, repeatedly. As they repeat this phrase to each other the phrase starts to take on a different meaning, based on what happens as they are saying it to each other. The words and the exact phrase do not change, but the phrase begins to represent a wider range of emotions. On the surface the exercise appears simple, but the actors' ability to experience and respond as a real individual is an advanced skill to fully master. This skill requires more than the ability to process. It requires the practice and mastery of a complex emotions and reactions do not belong to the actor.
Meisner's systematic training uses a series of exercises all intended to build upon each other as the actor delves further into the craft. As actors are given more complex circumstances and relationships, their ability to add meaning and nuances to the text increases and allows for more spontaneous, truthful responses. The ultimate challenge, of course, is a lead character with a full range of emotions, experiences and relationships set within a dramatic context of a play. The successful actor is able to enter into the play as the character with no self awareness to hinder their more immediate character driven behavior.
The Meisner technique also includes the interesting practice of memorizing lines without any physical movements or vocal inflections. This method of memorization, know as "dry memorization" allows the actors to learn not to speak their lines out of habit or in any predetermined manner. When the actors are performing together then in practice or in a performance, they are more intent on making their responses based on the interaction with the other actor, as it unfolds, moment by moment. When this is done extremely well it pushes the scene forward with a sense of urgency and immediacy that removes the actors' awareness of themselves. The actors are not merely repeating lines. They are real living characters interacting with each other.
Stanislavski's primary exercises involved concentration, physical movements, observation of human behavior, voice and analysis of the dramatic arts. These exercises also included a technique that became referred to as emotional memory. This approach was considered to be the universal approach to acting. Sanford Meisner however, began to consider that certain aspects of this method were too European for American actors to adopt. He later founded the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City to provide the opportunity for American actors to exist onstage, truthfully in the imaginative situations they discovered onstage.
The well respected Meisner technique has been in practice for over six decades. Meisner recognized that internal human emotions trigger impulses, which in turn trigger external behaviors and responses. He believed that a full range of emotional impulses and the resulting spoken responses, physical reactions, voice quality and etc. could be learned, mastered and used to create spontaneous and therefore more provocative performances onstage.
Encouraging actors to freely follow their impulses without their own thoughts editing their reactions was the best way to achieve authentic, humanly truthful performances. In order to be able to do this, actors have to be trained to eliminate their consciousness of being in a performance, and instead to react impulsively and truthfully, in character as the character, an actual person who has its own set of emotional triggers and reactions.
Word repetition exercises are a widely known aspect of the Meisner technique. During this exercise actors repeat a phrase back and forth to each other about something that they have between them. The actors repeat this phrase back and forth, repeatedly. As they repeat this phrase to each other the phrase starts to take on a different meaning, based on what happens as they are saying it to each other. The words and the exact phrase do not change, but the phrase begins to represent a wider range of emotions. On the surface the exercise appears simple, but the actors' ability to experience and respond as a real individual is an advanced skill to fully master. This skill requires more than the ability to process. It requires the practice and mastery of a complex emotions and reactions do not belong to the actor.
Meisner's systematic training uses a series of exercises all intended to build upon each other as the actor delves further into the craft. As actors are given more complex circumstances and relationships, their ability to add meaning and nuances to the text increases and allows for more spontaneous, truthful responses. The ultimate challenge, of course, is a lead character with a full range of emotions, experiences and relationships set within a dramatic context of a play. The successful actor is able to enter into the play as the character with no self awareness to hinder their more immediate character driven behavior.
The Meisner technique also includes the interesting practice of memorizing lines without any physical movements or vocal inflections. This method of memorization, know as "dry memorization" allows the actors to learn not to speak their lines out of habit or in any predetermined manner. When the actors are performing together then in practice or in a performance, they are more intent on making their responses based on the interaction with the other actor, as it unfolds, moment by moment. When this is done extremely well it pushes the scene forward with a sense of urgency and immediacy that removes the actors' awareness of themselves. The actors are not merely repeating lines. They are real living characters interacting with each other.
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