Meisner technique
Encyclopedia
The Meisner technique is an acting
technique developed by the American theatre practitioner
Sanford Meisner
.
Meisner developed this technique after working with Lee Strasberg
and Stella Adler
at the Group Theatre and as head of the acting program at New York City
's Neighborhood Playhouse
and continued its refinement for fifty years.
. Students work on a series of progressively complex exercises to develop an ability to improvise
, to access an emotional life, and finally to bring the spontaneity of improvisation and the richness of personal response to textual work. The technique develops the behavioral strand of Stanislavski's 'system' (specifically developing his concepts of communication and adaptation), via its articulation in an American idiom as Method acting
. The technique emphasizes "moment-to-moment" spontaneity through communication with other actors in order to generate behavior that is truthful within imagined, fictional circumstances.
Early training is heavily based on actions, in line with Meisner's emphasis on "doing." The questions "what are you playing?" and "what are you doing?" are asked frequently, in order to remind actors to commit themselves to playing what Stanislavski called a "task" or "objective," rather than focusing on the words of a play's dialogue. Silence, dialogue, and activity all require the actor to find a purpose for performing the action involved. By combining the two main tasks of focusing attention on a partner and committing to an action, the technique aims to force an actor into "the moment" (a common Meisner phrase), while simultaneously propelling the actor forward with concentrated purpose. The more an actor can take-in about the partner and the surroundings while performing in character, the more Meisner believed they can "leave themselves alone" and "live truthfully." One of Meisner's famous quotations that illustrates the emphasis on "doing" was "An ounce of behavior is worth a pound of words."
The most fundamental exercise in Meisner training is the Repetition exercise. Two actors face each other and repeat their observations about one another, back and forth. An example of such an exchange might be: "You're smiling." "I'm smiling." "You're smiling!" "Yes, I'm smiling." Actors observe and respond to the other's behavior and the subtext
therein. If they can "pick up the impulse"—or work spontaneously from how their partner's behavior affects them—their own behavior will arise directly from the stimulus of the other.
Later, as the exercise evolves in complexity to include "given circumstances," "relationships," actions and obstacles, this skill remains critical. From start to finish—from repetition to rehearsing a lead role—the principles of "listen and respond" and "stay in the moment" are fundamental to the work.
As in all Stanislavskian-derived approaches, for a Meisner actor traditional line-memorization
methods that include vocal inflections or gestures are avoided. These traditional approaches merely increase the chance the actor will miss a "real moment" in service of a rehearsed habit or line reading, the technique assumes. Meisner actors learn lines dry, "by rote
," without inflection, so as not to memorize a line-reading. When the line is finally to be delivered, its quality and inflection is derived from the moment of articulation.
The improvisatory thrust of the technique does not give permission to an actor "to wing it" or to fail to prepare. Meisner training includes extensive work on crafting or preparing a role. As students mature in the work, they get to know themselves and can make use of this self-knowledge by choosing actions that are compelling to their particular "instrument." They "come to life" through informed, provocative choices. Actors prepare emotional responses by "personalizing" and "paraphrasing" material and by using their imagination and "daydreaming" around a play's events in highly specific ways that they've learnt are particularly evocative for them personally. Solid preparation supports the spontaneity, in line with Martha Graham
's observation that "I work eight hours a day, every day, so that in the evenings I can improvise."
Despite some misconceptions, Meisner work also addresses characterization, though in an indirect way. Characteristics, such as "mousy," "vindictive," or "noble," result from actors' choices about what they do. Rather than attempting to play "mousy," a Meisner actor might seek to appease another character, in order to manifest the characteristic.
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
technique developed by the American theatre practitioner
Theatre practitioner
Theatre practitioner is a modern term to describe someone who both creates theatrical performances and who produces a theoretical discourse that informs his or her practical work. A theatre practitioner may be a director, a dramatist, an actor, or—characteristically—often a combination of these...
Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner , also known as Sandy, was an American actor and acting teacher who developed a form of Method acting that is now known as the Meisner technique....
.
Meisner developed this technique after working with Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
and Stella Adler
Stella Adler
Stella Adler was an American actress and an acclaimed acting teacher, who founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City and the The Stella Adler Academy of Acting in Los Angeles with long-time protege Joanne Linville, who continues to teach and furthers Adler's legacy...
at the Group Theatre and as head of the acting program at New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Neighborhood Playhouse
Neighborhood Playhouse
The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre is an actor training school at 340 East 54th Street in New York City, generally associated with the Meisner technique of Sanford Meisner.-History:...
and continued its refinement for fifty years.
Components
Meisner Training is an inter-dependent series of training exercises that build on one another. The more complex work supports a command of dramatic textDrama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
. Students work on a series of progressively complex exercises to develop an ability to improvise
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
, to access an emotional life, and finally to bring the spontaneity of improvisation and the richness of personal response to textual work. The technique develops the behavioral strand of Stanislavski's 'system' (specifically developing his concepts of communication and adaptation), via its articulation in an American idiom as Method acting
Method acting
Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques used by actors to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances...
. The technique emphasizes "moment-to-moment" spontaneity through communication with other actors in order to generate behavior that is truthful within imagined, fictional circumstances.
Early training is heavily based on actions, in line with Meisner's emphasis on "doing." The questions "what are you playing?" and "what are you doing?" are asked frequently, in order to remind actors to commit themselves to playing what Stanislavski called a "task" or "objective," rather than focusing on the words of a play's dialogue. Silence, dialogue, and activity all require the actor to find a purpose for performing the action involved. By combining the two main tasks of focusing attention on a partner and committing to an action, the technique aims to force an actor into "the moment" (a common Meisner phrase), while simultaneously propelling the actor forward with concentrated purpose. The more an actor can take-in about the partner and the surroundings while performing in character, the more Meisner believed they can "leave themselves alone" and "live truthfully." One of Meisner's famous quotations that illustrates the emphasis on "doing" was "An ounce of behavior is worth a pound of words."
The most fundamental exercise in Meisner training is the Repetition exercise. Two actors face each other and repeat their observations about one another, back and forth. An example of such an exchange might be: "You're smiling." "I'm smiling." "You're smiling!" "Yes, I'm smiling." Actors observe and respond to the other's behavior and the subtext
Subtext
Subtext or undertone is content of a book, play, musical work, film, video game, or television series which is not announced explicitly by the characters but is implicit or becomes something understood by the observer of the work as the production unfolds. Subtext can also refer to the thoughts...
therein. If they can "pick up the impulse"—or work spontaneously from how their partner's behavior affects them—their own behavior will arise directly from the stimulus of the other.
Later, as the exercise evolves in complexity to include "given circumstances," "relationships," actions and obstacles, this skill remains critical. From start to finish—from repetition to rehearsing a lead role—the principles of "listen and respond" and "stay in the moment" are fundamental to the work.
As in all Stanislavskian-derived approaches, for a Meisner actor traditional line-memorization
Memorization
Memorization is the process of committing something to memory. The act of memorization is often a deliberate mental process undertaken in order to store in memory for later recall items such as experiences, names, appointments, addresses, telephone numbers, lists, stories, poems, pictures, maps,...
methods that include vocal inflections or gestures are avoided. These traditional approaches merely increase the chance the actor will miss a "real moment" in service of a rehearsed habit or line reading, the technique assumes. Meisner actors learn lines dry, "by rote
Rote learning
Rote learning is a learning technique which focuses on memorization. The major practice involved in rote learning is learning by repetition by which students commit information to memory in a highly structured way. The idea is that one will be able to quickly recall the meaning of the material the...
," without inflection, so as not to memorize a line-reading. When the line is finally to be delivered, its quality and inflection is derived from the moment of articulation.
The improvisatory thrust of the technique does not give permission to an actor "to wing it" or to fail to prepare. Meisner training includes extensive work on crafting or preparing a role. As students mature in the work, they get to know themselves and can make use of this self-knowledge by choosing actions that are compelling to their particular "instrument." They "come to life" through informed, provocative choices. Actors prepare emotional responses by "personalizing" and "paraphrasing" material and by using their imagination and "daydreaming" around a play's events in highly specific ways that they've learnt are particularly evocative for them personally. Solid preparation supports the spontaneity, in line with Martha Graham
Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
's observation that "I work eight hours a day, every day, so that in the evenings I can improvise."
Despite some misconceptions, Meisner work also addresses characterization, though in an indirect way. Characteristics, such as "mousy," "vindictive," or "noble," result from actors' choices about what they do. Rather than attempting to play "mousy," a Meisner actor might seek to appease another character, in order to manifest the characteristic.
List of Meisner-trained actors
Prominent actors who trained at The Neighborhood Playhouse in the Meisner technique include:- James Caan
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Sources
- Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. ISBN 0521434378.
- Courtney, C. C. 2000. "The Neighborhood Playhouse." In Krasner (2000b, 291-295).
- Hirsch, Foster. 2000. "Actors and Acting." In Wilmeth and Bigsby (2000, 490-513).
- Hodge, Alison, ed. 2000. Twentieth Century Actor Training. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0415194520.
- Krasner, David. 2000a. "Strasberg, Adler and Meisner: Method Acting." In Hodge (2000, 129-150).
- ---, ed. 2000b. Method Acting Reconsidered: Theory, Practice, Future. New York: St. Martin's P. ISBN 978-0312223090.
- Longwell, Dennis, and Sanford Meisner. 1987. Sanford Meisner on Acting. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0394750590.
- Postlewait, Thomas. 1998. "Mesiner, Sanford." In Banham (1998, 719).
- Silverberg, Larry. 1994. The Sanford Meisner Approach: An Actor’s Workbook. Workbook One. New Hampshire: Smith and Kraus. ISBN 978-1880399774.
- Wilmeth, Don B, and Christopher Bigsby, eds. 2000. The Cambridge History of American Theatre. Vol 3. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge UP. ISBN 978-0521669597.