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Sanford Meisner is considered one of the greatest acting teachers of the 20th century. Meisner was a brilliant teacher, and had a gift for getting
the best out of his students. His techniques were unorthodox, yet
highly effective. After years of working with actors, he developed "The Meisner Technique". The goal of the Meisner technique: "To live truthfully under given imaginary circumstances." In 1931, Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, and Cheryl Crawford selected 28 actors, one of whom was Meisner, to form the Group Theatre. To this day, the Group Theatre still has had the most dramatic and profound influence on the American theatre and the art of acting. Despite it's great influence, after a short period, the group began to have difference of opinions. Meisner along with several of the other actors resisted Strasberg's Emotional Memory techniques. Shortly thereafter, Stella Adler came back to the states after studying with the great Russian acting teacher Constantin Stanislavski, echoing these opinions - that Stanislavski believed that with the use of imagination and belief of the given circumstances in the script, that the individual could summon the character's thoughts and feelings. This lead Sanford Meisner to begin focusing on his own approach to acting. When the Group Theatre ended in 1940, Meisner continued as head of the acting program at the Neighborhood Playhouse. It was at the Playhouse where he would fully form his own acting technique. The Meisner Technique was born. Through the years at the Neighborhood Playhouse, Sanford Meisner taught thousands of actors. His technique is still taught all over the world today, but no where more successfully than where it first began. Here at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre... Conversations with Mr. Meisner  "The elements in a person's training and in his own personality that make him a distinctive or interesting actor are among the most delicate factors
to impart as a teacher. One can use standard principles and textbooks in educating people for law, medicine, architecture, chemistry or almost
any profession--but not for the theatre. For in most professions, every practitioner uses the same tools and facilities, while the actor's chief
instrument is himself. And since no two persons are alike, no professional rule is applicable to any two actors in specifically the same way."
To achieve the effective communication needed between audience and character, Mr. Meisner articulates his ever-present goal of truthful behavior. "We at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre believe that training in the voice and body movement are important tools for the actor as the means of conveying the most important element of our courses in dramatics, the ability to see into, understand and breathe life into a stage character. The thing about acting that moves audiences is the emphatic sense of the reality of the human being who is being portrayed, greatly enhanced but not dependent upon the excellent diction with which the lines are spoken. "Our courses include simple exercises devised for the purpose of bringing the actor intimate and practical knowledge of himself. This is to free the actor of habits which prevent him from behaving directly from the impulses of his true nature and it is the objective that Constantine Stanislavsky had in mind in stating his formulations of acting laws." Mr. Meisner's system of beliefs continues to be the guiding force behind the development of the acting classes at The Neighborhood Playhouse. Sanford Meisner, while a champion and mentor of modern realistic acting, never lost sight of The Neighborhood Playhouse roots, which emphasized a fusion of all the arts as part of a young actor's basic training foundation. In an interview printed in The Tulane Drama Review in 1964, he said "In no sense is the Stanislavsky trained actor limited to naturalism. What more does he need now? "A body as flexible as a gymnast's, a voice as malleable and responsive as a singer's... and a director who understands and can communicate the way of life which gave birth to the play." Recommended reading: Sanford Meisner on Acting |
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