Transcript MEISNER
SANFORD “Sandy”
MEISNER
(1905-1997)
and the Meisner Technique
The core principles
“Living truthfully under imaginary circumstances…is my
definition of good acting.”
To achieve this, Meisner emphasizes that actors must:
First and foremost, fully understand and develop
character
See the script as an outline of the emotional reality
and commit to the objectives within a play and a
scene
actors should throw out stage directions and
emotional descriptions
“What’s my motivation?”
Move the scene forward, pushing toward your
objective
The core principles, cont.
memorize and practice the text in a completely
neutral, non-judgmental, cold, uncalculated,
expressionless fashion (no line readings).
Don’t pick up cues; pick up impulses
Eliminates tensions, the actor is relaxed with the lines and open to
any influence (esp. those presented by the scene partner):
emotional flexibility.
Only respond when the imaginary circumstances/ scene partners
genuinely prompt a response
Don’t just wait for your turn to speak!
LISTEN and respond in character
“Be in the moment.”
Don’t project; don’t indicate, embody
Focus on emotional detail above all else
i.e. instead of focusing on visualizing snow outside a window, focus
on an objective (“If it doesn’t stop snowing, I’ll never get back to
New York and I’ll lose my job”).
LESSON ONE
“The
foundation of acting is the
reality of doing…The foundation
of acting is the reality of doing. The
reality of doing.”
LESSON TWO
“Don’t
do anything unless
something happens to make you
do it…What you do doesn’t
depend on you; it depends on
the other fellow.”
Emotional Preparation & Particularization
“The purpose of [emotional] preparation is so that you do
not come in emotionally empty…It’s simple. Don’t come in
empty.”
“When you prepare, go into a dark corner if you can find
one.”
“Preparation lasts only for the first moment of the scene,
and then you never know what’s going to happen.”
Particularization - it's "as if"…“your personal example
chosen from your experience or your imagination which
emotionally clarifies the cold material of the text. a
particularization is similar to preparation only that it's for a
specific moment, chosen, and rehearsed.
Meisner wisdom
“It takes twenty years to become an actor.”
“How does an actor think? He doesn’t
think—he does.”
“No acting please…Be a human being who
works off what exists under imaginary
circumstances. Don’t give a performance.
Let the performance give you.”