Im starting to learn the Meisner Technique im doing my 3rd class tonight at JM Casting in Manchester and i realise your text and speech has got to come from within yourself where the emotion should come from and will meet as one to play your character successfully .
He may be gone but his work is alive at well at the Taylor School of Acting in LA. I can't vouch for any other place but I can say in my two months here the work has been constant, hard, and above all REAL. It's cool finding yourself listening to pro's who went through the program years ago and relating first hand.
Hey. I went to the Playhouse about 10 years ago and every teacher had studied directly under Meisner. It was apparent about the importance of conveying his teachings authenticly and not interperetted. I am not sure which teachers are still in attendance but I would highly recommend studying in the school he has left as his legacy if you firmly believe that this is calling to you.
Alex Taylor is as authentic as it gets: I sit on Sandy's armchair to empty myself before I go on stage and after class the other day he went to pick up Carville (Sandy's life partner) from the airport. Not only did Alex study under Meisner but more importantly he was taught to teach Meisner. Like Ty said I think it's crucial that it isn't interpreted: there's a reason it works. I have no idea about the current state of the neighborhood playhouse but definitely check it out if you're in NYC and let me know, I'm curious! In LA I honestly doubt there's anyone better than Alex. Whatever you do, audit and read the qualifications and reviews online!
The last place he taught before he died was Playhouse West in Los Angeles which was started by Robert Carnegie and Jeff Goldblum. He moved to LA after he left the Neighborhood Playhouse. There are at least three teachers at Playhouse West that trained directly with Sandy. He never stopped innovating & after he left New York the innovating continued at Playhouse West and the Neighborhood Playhouse was left with his "legacy" teaching but the innovating stopped after he left. The Meisner Center in LA is no different except that it's only one guy running the school and he never even met Sandy. He uses some of the exercises that Sandy later eliminated (like counting of cars which really served no purpose).
I actually attended both Playhouse West and The Meisner Center in Los Angeles and worked with both Alex Taylor and Jeff Goldblum among others. The actual school Meisner founded was The Meisner Center. It was his former student Martin Barter who Sandy hand picked as the individual to continue his work. I believe Alex Taylor worked directly with Sandy only briefly (before his passing) as a student. He actually finished his training under Martin Barter and was trained to teach by him. People get caught up in who Sandy chose and whether the technique they teach is pure. In the end, the technique itself is not overly complicated, and even the methods are simply duplicated from what Sandy developed. But don't be deceived: Sandy himself said it takes 20 years to become a master! (doesn't mean you can't book jobs in the interim, but take it for what it is!)The true difference is the way in which the teacher can help the students internalize Sandy's techniques and help them to open up and leave all their BS behind. Martin was a prodigy at teaching the Meisner Technique; his knack for finding the exact way to open people up was unparalleled. Sadly, he had personal issues that forced him to take care of himself rather than progress the work. There was a falling out between he and Alex, and Alex took it upon himself to open up his own studio with the backing of Jimmy Carville. When I worked with Alex in the early 2002-2003, he was an ok teacher. He filled in for Marty from time to time. He wasn't anywhere near as good as Martin at actually helping the students open up and internalize things, but that was 20 yrs ago. He was a hell of an actor so I can only imagine that he has since become a great teacher. I also know the current teacher of the Meisner Center: Ranjiv Perera; we were students in the same class under Martin Barter. He was mentored by Marty and is quite proficient in the technique and has a great ability to really help students understand and internalize the things being taught. Playhouse West is by far the farthest away from the pure Meisner experience. Their teachers are proficient, but their process is not the same, the classes tend to be larger and the actual stage time can be limited (although in fairness watching others in class can yield invaluable lessons, and the true learning occurs in rehearsals with your scene partner outside of class). Other than Jeff Goldblum, the teachers were "meh" for me. Jeff is very perceptive and having actually worked extensively with Meisner, he definitely ensures people are doing things Sandy's way. (Many people don't like his teaching style because he's always interrupting you, but they would have hated Sandy! that's the way it works) In the end if you're interested in the Meisner technique, I can't imagine you'll go wrong with any of these studios. Definitely the top in LA for Sandy's technique. If you want to be a purist, go with either Taylor or the Meisner Center. Their 2yr program is exactly the format Sandy used. Audit the programs and go with the teacher you like best. If you're looking for more mainstream and for networking opportunities, go with Playhouse West. Find out when Goldblum teaches and go to those classes.
@@londonmacfarlane6398 He had three operations and still refused to quit smoking. In his last TV appearance he couldn't speak at all and you could see the hole in his throat (that was an episode of ER).
The reputation exercise trains you to stay connected when the emotional heat goes up. In life (reality) our instincts make us disconnect from our emotions, this same instinct will pull us out when acting sometimes! Basically you get in your head. Acting what you THINK is right, rather than FEELING what is right. The reputation exercise trains you to stay connected to your scene partner when things begin to get awkward or difficult. It trains you to respond truthfully to what is happening. Emotional weightlifting for actors… You repeat for a while until you notice an emotional change in the moment, calling what you see in your partner. Then once they notice something, that is repeated until something else is noticed by your partner.
From my understanding it’s about learning to read others body language and react off of that (puts you more in the moment) instead of focusing on the words of the script and thinking about how you would respond in that situation.
If you can't listen you can't act. The repetition exercise really focuses your ability to really; genuinely listen to the other actor. It's like a good game of ping pong (at first) only with words and when you play pong for the first time you're gonna drop the ball a few times. Same thing happens in repetition when you're new to it, you drop the repetition but you're supposed to keep going until the teacher says stop. Just like how in a scene; on camera, it's not the actors job to yell "CUT" and stop the scene, for any reason unless they're in pain. It's a bad habit a lot of actors have and the repetition exercise eliminates that bad habit and several others while deepening your ability to listen and REALLY hear the other person. The basic mechanical repetition only lasts for the first two weeks of the two year program but a lot of it depends on the actor too, some progress slower; some faster. After the basic repetition exercise they move on to changing pronouns; then once you're used to that they add "POV" (repeating but FROM your point of view; what it means to you; how it makes you feel), then they do the three moment game; then finally begin working on independent activities. The activities are also designed to deepen your acting & give you something difficult to focus on so that you're forced to work from instinct and not from intellect but this is done WHILE continuing the repetition. One actor does a difficult activity and the other just "hovers" (out of their chair; using the space in the room and their body). The next step after that is the three knocked game where one actor knocks three times but with a different feeling each time; different reasons for coming to the door. The sitting actor then calls out the meaning or emotion/feeling behind the knock (that was an insistent knock etc) and on the third knock the actor at the table opens the door; calls out the feeling and they begin repetition from that word. There's another exercise that happens around this time called the "Three Moment Game" in which the first moment is a provocative question, the second moment is the other actor repeating the question FROM their POV and the third moment is when the first actor calls out the POV - what they were saying without actually saying it (by simply repeating). Method actors might call this the "subtext". It's one of my own personal favorite exercises, it's a LOT of fun. Do a TH-cam search for Meisner three moment game and you'll get a better idea, it's hard to explain the Dynamics that can happen especially if you add a third actor (it can be done with two or three actors). And sometimes the QUESTIONS can make you fall out of your chair laughing but I guess that depends on who's on stage. Then they begin to incorporate the two and do "doors and activities" and it continues to progress from there which is only the beginning. Then you start to work from specific relationships like you're roommates or boyfriend/girlfriend and you name one thing you like; one thing you don't like about your "roommate" before beginning. Then you start to work on emotional preparation which is usually a whole day of JUST learning about that before you start to work it into the exercises. They'll have you do what's called an "alone" which is your first time being on stage alone (by this point you're in the intermediate class, still not advanced) and in doing alones you learn to work from three emotional "ballparks" which are Triumph Tragedy and Anger but you're always making that choice of what ballpark you're working from. You also write your own independent activities - nobody tells you what to do except maybe on the first one but after that it's all you and the teacher will tell you if it wasn't structured right or wasn't working but in general a good activity has four elements 1 a level of physical difficulty 2 meaningful reason for doing it 3 time constraint and 4 consequences for not getting it done. What I've covered so far is only the first year and a half - this is before you're ever even handed a script because the worst thing an actor can do is think. These exercises are designed to get you OUT of your head; to stop thinking and work from instinct before you ever have a script in your hand and once you do - you're still not thinking about it. You memorize the text and then once you're on stage you still don't think, you work 100% off of the other actor as you've already been trained to do and EVERYTHING you do must come from the other actor. You're not just saying some words you're allowing the other actors behavior to PULL the dialogue from you and you don't even (initially) know what the other actor is going to say because you only memorize your own lines - not the other actors. Once you're working with a script AND you know how to do reps it makes it easier to stay IN the scene even if you forget the words or lose your place; you fall into the repetition and it will help you find your way back BUT eventually the repetition exercise falls away and what you're left with is an actor FULLY in the scene; fully present and working from moment to moment. Most Meisner teachers aren't going to explain all of the above like I just did (and I didn't even explain all of it, only about half). They'll just start you out with simple repeating of words; back and forth; over and over and over and over - until you get it. And some people just never really get it it. I guess it's like that scene from Karate Kid where Daniel doesn't understand that he IS learning something. He thinks he's just doing work just to be doing work, it's not until later that he realizes that he was learning JUST the muscle memory but not how to apply it. Some students get mad and leave because they don't understand WHY they're doing these exercises but it's not necessary to know why or understand how it works - it works whether you understand it or not... as long as you stick with it. It's just like Mary Steenbergen said - it's a rollercoaster ride for two years. I guess you could also say it's like learning to ride a bike. You're never going to learn how to ride a bike from reading about it or watching videos, you can become an expert on bicycle mechanics and get a PhD in mechanical engineering but you're not going to learn balance until you get on and ride.
I know it’s been 2 years but his vocal chords were destroyed by multiple surgeries and years of smoking, he had to essentially found a new method to speak by inhaling air and burping out sentences. Oddly enough I don’t find it annoying as I’ve known people with similar issues doing the same thing, but I can understand it takes some getting used to.
Yeah I guess all these people got famous because his techniques didn't work. I guess Jeff Goldblum also doesn't know what he's talking about. Go ahead and run away from your own comment and ignore the multiple replies, yellow chicken bitch. It only proves that you're the one who's full of shit.
Im starting to learn the Meisner Technique im doing my 3rd class tonight at JM Casting in Manchester and i realise your text and speech has got to come from within yourself where the emotion should come from and will meet as one to play your character successfully .
it is painful just to hear him try to communicate. just breaks my heart
I wish I could have worked with him everyone study his method I know he's an amazing teacher.
He may be gone but his work is alive at well at the Taylor School of Acting in LA. I can't vouch for any other place but I can say in my two months here the work has been constant, hard, and above all REAL. It's cool finding yourself listening to pro's who went through the program years ago and relating first hand.
Hey. I went to the Playhouse about 10 years ago and every teacher had studied directly under Meisner. It was apparent about the importance of conveying his teachings authenticly and not interperetted.
I am not sure which teachers are still in attendance but I would highly recommend studying in the school he has left as his legacy if you firmly believe that this is calling to you.
Alex Taylor is as authentic as it gets: I sit on Sandy's armchair to empty myself before I go on stage and after class the other day he went to pick up Carville (Sandy's life partner) from the airport. Not only did Alex study under Meisner but more importantly he was taught to teach Meisner. Like Ty said I think it's crucial that it isn't interpreted: there's a reason it works. I have no idea about the current state of the neighborhood playhouse but definitely check it out if you're in NYC and let me know, I'm curious! In LA I honestly doubt there's anyone better than Alex.
Whatever you do, audit and read the qualifications and reviews online!
The last place he taught before he died was Playhouse West in Los Angeles which was started by Robert Carnegie and Jeff Goldblum. He moved to LA after he left the Neighborhood Playhouse.
There are at least three teachers at Playhouse West that trained directly with Sandy. He never stopped innovating & after he left New York the innovating continued at Playhouse West and the Neighborhood Playhouse was left with his "legacy" teaching but the innovating stopped after he left. The Meisner Center in LA is no different except that it's only one guy running the school and he never even met Sandy. He uses some of the exercises that Sandy later eliminated (like counting of cars which really served no purpose).
I actually attended both Playhouse West and The Meisner Center in Los Angeles and worked with both Alex Taylor and Jeff Goldblum among others. The actual school Meisner founded was The Meisner Center. It was his former student Martin Barter who Sandy hand picked as the individual to continue his work. I believe Alex Taylor worked directly with Sandy only briefly (before his passing) as a student. He actually finished his training under Martin Barter and was trained to teach by him.
People get caught up in who Sandy chose and whether the technique they teach is pure. In the end, the technique itself is not overly complicated, and even the methods are simply duplicated from what Sandy developed. But don't be deceived: Sandy himself said it takes 20 years to become a master! (doesn't mean you can't book jobs in the interim, but take it for what it is!)The true difference is the way in which the teacher can help the students internalize Sandy's techniques and help them to open up and leave all their BS behind. Martin was a prodigy at teaching the Meisner Technique; his knack for finding the exact way to open people up was unparalleled. Sadly, he had personal issues that forced him to take care of himself rather than progress the work. There was a falling out between he and Alex, and Alex took it upon himself to open up his own studio with the backing of Jimmy Carville.
When I worked with Alex in the early 2002-2003, he was an ok teacher. He filled in for Marty from time to time. He wasn't anywhere near as good as Martin at actually helping the students open up and internalize things, but that was 20 yrs ago. He was a hell of an actor so I can only imagine that he has since become a great teacher. I also know the current teacher of the Meisner Center: Ranjiv Perera; we were students in the same class under Martin Barter. He was mentored by Marty and is quite proficient in the technique and has a great ability to really help students understand and internalize the things being taught. Playhouse West is by far the farthest away from the pure Meisner experience. Their teachers are proficient, but their process is not the same, the classes tend to be larger and the actual stage time can be limited (although in fairness watching others in class can yield invaluable lessons, and the true learning occurs in rehearsals with your scene partner outside of class). Other than Jeff Goldblum, the teachers were "meh" for me. Jeff is very perceptive and having actually worked extensively with Meisner, he definitely ensures people are doing things Sandy's way. (Many people don't like his teaching style because he's always interrupting you, but they would have hated Sandy! that's the way it works)
In the end if you're interested in the Meisner technique, I can't imagine you'll go wrong with any of these studios. Definitely the top in LA for Sandy's technique. If you want to be a purist, go with either Taylor or the Meisner Center. Their 2yr program is exactly the format Sandy used. Audit the programs and go with the teacher you like best. If you're looking for more mainstream and for networking opportunities, go with Playhouse West. Find out when Goldblum teaches and go to those classes.
Learn so much from his technique. The class that taught me this technique was very important.
be more specific.
@@buzinaocara It's written all over the walls at the neighborhood playhouse "be specific".
@@liquidbraino what does it mean👉 to be specific
@@arfenmalik1717 It means get a dictionary and look up the word "Specific".
@@liquidbraino am not new to English but interms of Neighborhood play house wat is the meaning of👉👉be specific
Here because of the bio "Steve McQueen" by Marc Eliot
He was great person in acting school
I beg someone to post the whole 60 minutes
You can find it on my channel.
Is he speaking through burps?
Yeah my teacher told me he had his voice box removed and speaks by gulping air and kind of burps it out.
@@londonmacfarlane6398 He had three operations and still refused to quit smoking. In his last TV appearance he couldn't speak at all and you could see the hole in his throat (that was an episode of ER).
Was he an actor?
AL CA TRAZ
"shut up, you talk too much" hahaha
3:19 Back to the future III
Yep, she was also in a great movie called "Time After Time" (a time travel story about Jack the Ripper).
Yeah. Mary.... whatshername...
Why are they repeating 👉 you have warm eyes
What is that technique and he also mentions it's supposed to eliminate.... wat
The reputation exercise trains you to stay connected when the emotional heat goes up. In life (reality) our instincts make us disconnect from our emotions, this same instinct will pull us out when acting sometimes! Basically you get in your head. Acting what you THINK is right, rather than FEELING what is right. The reputation exercise trains you to stay connected to your scene partner when things begin to get awkward or difficult. It trains you to respond truthfully to what is happening. Emotional weightlifting for actors…
You repeat for a while until you notice an emotional change in the moment, calling what you see in your partner. Then once they notice something, that is repeated until something else is noticed by your partner.
@@cooljoew92 thankyou for dat. It had me confused yhooo
@@cooljoew92 Best explanation ever, you should do a total video on this 💯
Sorry, I don't get it. The repetition bit.
got to see where it build too and when it finally falls away. Most actors think they know Meisner but ONLY know the first exercise.
From my understanding it’s about learning to read others body language and react off of that (puts you more in the moment) instead of focusing on the words of the script and thinking about how you would respond in that situation.
It takes the focus off of yourself and onto your scene partner, which is very hard & what good acting aspires to do.
If you can't listen you can't act. The repetition exercise really focuses your ability to really; genuinely listen to the other actor. It's like a good game of ping pong (at first) only with words and when you play pong for the first time you're gonna drop the ball a few times. Same thing happens in repetition when you're new to it, you drop the repetition but you're supposed to keep going until the teacher says stop. Just like how in a scene; on camera, it's not the actors job to yell "CUT" and stop the scene, for any reason unless they're in pain. It's a bad habit a lot of actors have and the repetition exercise eliminates that bad habit and several others while deepening your ability to listen and REALLY hear the other person.
The basic mechanical repetition only lasts for the first two weeks of the two year program but a lot of it depends on the actor too, some progress slower; some faster. After the basic repetition exercise they move on to changing pronouns; then once you're used to that they add "POV" (repeating but FROM your point of view; what it means to you; how it makes you feel), then they do the three moment game; then finally begin working on independent activities. The activities are also designed to deepen your acting & give you something difficult to focus on so that you're forced to work from instinct and not from intellect but this is done WHILE continuing the repetition. One actor does a difficult activity and the other just "hovers" (out of their chair; using the space in the room and their body).
The next step after that is the three knocked game where one actor knocks three times but with a different feeling each time; different reasons for coming to the door. The sitting actor then calls out the meaning or emotion/feeling behind the knock (that was an insistent knock etc) and on the third knock the actor at the table opens the door; calls out the feeling and they begin repetition from that word. There's another exercise that happens around this time called the "Three Moment Game" in which the first moment is a provocative question, the second moment is the other actor repeating the question FROM their POV and the third moment is when the first actor calls out the POV - what they were saying without actually saying it (by simply repeating). Method actors might call this the "subtext". It's one of my own personal favorite exercises, it's a LOT of fun. Do a TH-cam search for Meisner three moment game and you'll get a better idea, it's hard to explain the Dynamics that can happen especially if you add a third actor (it can be done with two or three actors). And sometimes the QUESTIONS can make you fall out of your chair laughing but I guess that depends on who's on stage.
Then they begin to incorporate the two and do "doors and activities" and it continues to progress from there which is only the beginning. Then you start to work from specific relationships like you're roommates or boyfriend/girlfriend and you name one thing you like; one thing you don't like about your "roommate" before beginning. Then you start to work on emotional preparation which is usually a whole day of JUST learning about that before you start to work it into the exercises. They'll have you do what's called an "alone" which is your first time being on stage alone (by this point you're in the intermediate class, still not advanced) and in doing alones you learn to work from three emotional "ballparks" which are Triumph Tragedy and Anger but you're always making that choice of what ballpark you're working from. You also write your own independent activities - nobody tells you what to do except maybe on the first one but after that it's all you and the teacher will tell you if it wasn't structured right or wasn't working but in general a good activity has four elements 1 a level of physical difficulty 2 meaningful reason for doing it 3 time constraint and 4 consequences for not getting it done.
What I've covered so far is only the first year and a half - this is before you're ever even handed a script because the worst thing an actor can do is think. These exercises are designed to get you OUT of your head; to stop thinking and work from instinct before you ever have a script in your hand and once you do - you're still not thinking about it. You memorize the text and then once you're on stage you still don't think, you work 100% off of the other actor as you've already been trained to do and EVERYTHING you do must come from the other actor. You're not just saying some words you're allowing the other actors behavior to PULL the dialogue from you and you don't even (initially) know what the other actor is going to say because you only memorize your own lines - not the other actors. Once you're working with a script AND you know how to do reps it makes it easier to stay IN the scene even if you forget the words or lose your place; you fall into the repetition and it will help you find your way back BUT eventually the repetition exercise falls away and what you're left with is an actor FULLY in the scene; fully present and working from moment to moment.
Most Meisner teachers aren't going to explain all of the above like I just did (and I didn't even explain all of it, only about half). They'll just start you out with simple repeating of words; back and forth; over and over and over and over - until you get it. And some people just never really get it it. I guess it's like that scene from Karate Kid where Daniel doesn't understand that he IS learning something. He thinks he's just doing work just to be doing work, it's not until later that he realizes that he was learning JUST the muscle memory but not how to apply it. Some students get mad and leave because they don't understand WHY they're doing these exercises but it's not necessary to know why or understand how it works - it works whether you understand it or not... as long as you stick with it. It's just like Mary Steenbergen said - it's a rollercoaster ride for two years.
I guess you could also say it's like learning to ride a bike. You're never going to learn how to ride a bike from reading about it or watching videos, you can become an expert on bicycle mechanics and get a PhD in mechanical engineering but you're not going to learn balance until you get on and ride.
@@liquidbraino thank you so much for noting the process of meisner. from a struggling actor in korea. i see you really care.
Not denying his teaching abilities but his voice is too annoying to listen to I'm sorry
This was filmed during his later years, he didn’t sound like that when he was younger.
A. R. No shit how could you listen to that everyday, he need that stephen hawking wheelchair that does all the work for you lol
@@jessedutton2474 If you can't listen you can't act.
I know it’s been 2 years but his vocal chords were destroyed by multiple surgeries and years of smoking, he had to essentially found a new method to speak by inhaling air and burping out sentences. Oddly enough I don’t find it annoying as I’ve known people with similar issues doing the same thing, but I can understand it takes some getting used to.
@@jessedutton2474 you can listen to it everyday once you realize how invaluable it is what he’s teaching.
Total BS!
Bucky Brown why do you say that?
@@ihaveproblems1360 because he has no clue what the craft of acting is and has no clue what he is talking about.
@@lupevasquez2000 what do you think acting is
Bucky Brown sounds like your class didn’t go too well...
Yeah I guess all these people got famous because his techniques didn't work. I guess Jeff Goldblum also doesn't know what he's talking about. Go ahead and run away from your own comment and ignore the multiple replies, yellow chicken bitch. It only proves that you're the one who's full of shit.