History of the Meisner Technique

Back in the Thirties, Sanford Meisner was one of the members of The Group Theatre, probably the most important theatre company in the history of the American theatre. The Group’s work was based on the work of the Russian actor, director and father of modern acting, Stanislavski. At some point in their work together, Sandy Meisner fell out with Lee Strasberg over his unnecessary emphasis on the use of the personal emotions of the actor. Meisner felt that the imagination and emotion could be stimulated by the imaginary circumstances of the play/scene. Of course, Strasberg went on to make acting look like a cross between an CIA interrogation and a Freudian therapy session, but Meisner’s work slowly and quietly grew in the shade of Strasberg’s light.

Sandy defined acting as ‘living truthfully under the imaginary circumstances of the play’. His approach is rigorously based in what is known as ‘the reality of doing’.

Meisner worked out of the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. He created his own way of working, a systematic approach, still based on the teachings of Stanislavski, but focused on the principles of real human behaviour. His training included a great deal of emphasis on helping the actor to allow their own natural impulses to flow unimpeded, something that socially, as human beings, we’re not too comfortable with. Meisner trained actors to work with their real impulses and real behaviour, rather than pretending.

One of the founding exercises of Meisner’s Technique is called Repetition, of the Repetition Exercise or Game. It’s a simple game, seems on the surface to be a bit ridiculous, but over time, it becomes more and more useful to the actor. In the exercise, two actors stand opposite each other and respond truthfully to each other through a statement that is repeated. The statement is derived from something in the other actor’s behaviour, such as ‘You’re nervous’. The statement is repeated and without help from the second actor, it changes naturally in response to the behaviour of the other actor. The actor must stop thinking about themselves, to place their attention fully and completely upon their partner. Sandy’s own focus was said to be:

“to eliminate all intellectuality from the actor’s instrument and to make him a spontaneous responder to where he is, what is happening to him, what is being done to him.”

Of course, the Meisner Technique is much more than simply Repetition, yet this remains the foundation technique that allow the student to access the ‘reality of doing’, to ‘live in the moment’, and to ‘work off the other fellow’.

My own teaching uses only a portion of Meisner’s work, Practical Aesthetics itself has some basis in Meisner, because Mamet studied briefly, for one year with Sandy, but it takes the necessary and leaves the remainder for the dedicated Meisner students. In class, we use Repetition as the foundation technique that all students use to develop ‘other awareness’ and learn to be in the moment and to work off the other actor. For many of our students, this is an extremely challenging exercise, but like playing scales at the piano, it is an exercise necessary to develop some of the skills and qualities that we believe are essential to becoming the best actor that you can be.