Sanford Meisner was one of three founding actors that formed the Group theatre, which was widely popular in the the 1930's. Based in New York City the Group theatre founders included Sanford Meisner, Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg. The main purpose of the company was to explore and create theatre based on the systematic and deliberate acting techniques developed by Constantin Stanislavski. Stanislavski is thought to have been the first actor to approach the craft of acting as being a systematic discipline. The principles and exercises that he created have helped actors experience and master the craft of acting.
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 Meisner technique has been in practice for over six decades and is widely respected. Meisner understood that human emotions trigger responses, and these responses then cause physical behaviors and reactions. This full range of impulses and the resulting verbal responses, physical behaviors and voice quality were all skills that could be learned, mastered and used to create spontaneous, authentic and therefore more exciting onstage performances.
Getting actors to follow these human impulses freely without the hindrance of thoughts to "edit" them was the best way to get truthful, humanly authentic performances. To do this, actors need to be trained to eliminate the awareness of being in a performance, and instead react immediately and honestly as the character--a character which has its own set of emotional triggers and responses.
The Meisner technique is most widely know for the word repetition exercises during which actors repeat a phrase that mentions something that they have between them. The actors repeat this phrase back and forth to each other, many times. As they repeat the phrase back and forth to each other, over time the phrase starts to take on different meanings as things happen between the actors during the exchange. The words and the phrase do not change, the meaning is the same, but it range of emotions that it expresses deepens. The initial explanation of the exercise may seem simplistic, but the actors' ability to observe, hear and react as real, unique human beings is a difficult skill to master. It requires skill that is more than simply processing and reacting. It requires both discipline and an awareness and skill of a full range of human emotions and reactions that are not the actor's.
Through the use of Meisner's systematic training of exercises that build on each other, the actor explores the craft of acting at greater levels. As actor's are presented with relationships and situations that are more complex, their ability to add context and meaning the dialogue increases and enables them to create more truthful responses without restraint. The real challenge, obviously, is a lead character that has a full range of complex emotions, experiences and relationships within the dramatic context of a performance. The accomplished actor is able to enter into the play as the character with no awareness of themselves to impede their character driven performance.
This technique also includes the practice of memorizing lines without inflection of physical movements. The method of memorization, know as "dry" memorization, is thought to insure that the actor will not not speak his lines out of habit or in a pre-conceived way. When the actors are interacting in a practice scene or performance, they are focused on the other actor and making responses entirely based on how the other actor responds, moment by moment. When this is done well, the technique moves the scene forward with direction and spontaneity that eliminates the actors awareness of themselves acting, and instead leaves real, living reacting characters in a live performance. The actors are not focused on the script. They are trained to focus on the overall objectives.
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 Meisner technique has been in practice for over six decades and is widely respected. Meisner understood that human emotions trigger responses, and these responses then cause physical behaviors and reactions. This full range of impulses and the resulting verbal responses, physical behaviors and voice quality were all skills that could be learned, mastered and used to create spontaneous, authentic and therefore more exciting onstage performances.
Getting actors to follow these human impulses freely without the hindrance of thoughts to "edit" them was the best way to get truthful, humanly authentic performances. To do this, actors need to be trained to eliminate the awareness of being in a performance, and instead react immediately and honestly as the character--a character which has its own set of emotional triggers and responses.
The Meisner technique is most widely know for the word repetition exercises during which actors repeat a phrase that mentions something that they have between them. The actors repeat this phrase back and forth to each other, many times. As they repeat the phrase back and forth to each other, over time the phrase starts to take on different meanings as things happen between the actors during the exchange. The words and the phrase do not change, the meaning is the same, but it range of emotions that it expresses deepens. The initial explanation of the exercise may seem simplistic, but the actors' ability to observe, hear and react as real, unique human beings is a difficult skill to master. It requires skill that is more than simply processing and reacting. It requires both discipline and an awareness and skill of a full range of human emotions and reactions that are not the actor's.
Through the use of Meisner's systematic training of exercises that build on each other, the actor explores the craft of acting at greater levels. As actor's are presented with relationships and situations that are more complex, their ability to add context and meaning the dialogue increases and enables them to create more truthful responses without restraint. The real challenge, obviously, is a lead character that has a full range of complex emotions, experiences and relationships within the dramatic context of a performance. The accomplished actor is able to enter into the play as the character with no awareness of themselves to impede their character driven performance.
This technique also includes the practice of memorizing lines without inflection of physical movements. The method of memorization, know as "dry" memorization, is thought to insure that the actor will not not speak his lines out of habit or in a pre-conceived way. When the actors are interacting in a practice scene or performance, they are focused on the other actor and making responses entirely based on how the other actor responds, moment by moment. When this is done well, the technique moves the scene forward with direction and spontaneity that eliminates the actors awareness of themselves acting, and instead leaves real, living reacting characters in a live performance. The actors are not focused on the script. They are trained to focus on the overall objectives.
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