reflections on Meisner

I'm excited to say that I'll be teaching an acting workshop focusing on Meisner technique this coming weekend. In preparation for the class, I wrote down some of my own thoughts on Meisner and how his particular technique has shaped my own development.

Meisner technique is a keystone for me as an actor. Even when I was first starting out -and to be frank- so green that my acting was disastrous and laughable, I connected with Meisner technique -through Alexandra Borrie, one of my favourite teachers I studied with while in NYU’s CAP 21 program. There, I started to understand that ‘acting’ was a process, a path— and each actor’s path would be perhaps markedly different than another actor’s path. And yet, we all -especially when speaking about stage- absolutely MUST connect with other actors in order to make a performance work and be real.

But how do we connect with another actor?

To bridge that gap is daunting, doesn’t even seem possible at times — but Meisner developed a way to do it. His technique lays out a syllabus for the actor, but it really is up to the actor to do the work--- two actors sitting across from one another locked in direct eye contact, both parties have to be humble and willing to let go of everything they know in order to make the leap to understand one another.

And in doing the work, your own version of yourself is challenged. Maybe you aren't as brave as you thought you were. And why this lack of courage to make the leap to understand another actor? It's an unwillingness that comes because we are unable to comprehend the way another human being thinks and is. 

To act is to embrace the human condition.

"Life beats down and crushes our souls and theatre reminds us that we have one. At least the type of theatre that I'm interested in; that is, theatre that moves an audience. You have the opportunity to literally impact the lives of people if they work on material that has integrity. But today, most actors simply want to be famous. Well, being an actor was never supposed to be about fame and money. Being an actor is a religious calling because you've been given the ability, the gift to inspire humanity. Think about that on the way to your soap opera audition."

-Sanford Meisner