Acting techniques from the masters: Sanford Meisner

The Importance of Being Honest: Acting Techniques from the Masters

The following are excerpts from Dr. Mary Schuttler's class on the masters of acting technique.

Summary of Sanford Meisner's contributions

The foundations of acting is the reality of doing. It is about bringing the actor back to his/her emotional impulses and to acting that is firmly rooted in the instinctive. Acting is about finding the reality of your acting choice adjustment, doing, or tactic in the behavior of the other.

Biography of Sanford Meisner, 1905-1997

Mary's Bio: In Brooklyn, NY, on August 31, 1905, Bertha Knoepfler-Meisner gave birth to Herman Meisner’s son, Sanford. Sanford graduated Erasmus Hall High School, Damrosch Institute of Music (now Julliard School of Music) in 1924, and Theatre Guild School of Acting in 1926. Mr. Meisner married an actress, Peggy Meyer, in 1940 and divorced her in 1947.

Meisner’s stage debut was as a farmhand in a 1924 production of “They Knew What They Wanted.” He went on to appear in the first “Garrick Gaieties” in 1925. Sanford played Jeremy in his Theater Guild School graduation production of “Prunella” in 1926. Other roles include Blasio in “Juarez and Maximilian” (1926), “The Doctor’s Dilemma” (1927), a Papal Courier in “Marco Millions,” and a Clerk of the Court in “Volpone” (both 1928).

He played Henri in “American Dream” (1933). In “Men in White” (also 1933) he played both Dr. Wren and Mr. Smith, and Sam Feinschreiber in “Awake and Sing!” (1935 and 1939). In 1935 Mr. Meisner also co-directed “Waiting for Lefty” with playwright Clifford Odets. That same year Sanford portrayed Julie in “Paradise Lost.” In a 1936 adaptation of the novel, An American Tragedy, entitled “The Case of Clyde Griffiths” he played the role of Wiggham. Sanford Meisner succeeded Elia Kazan as Eddie Fuselli in “Golden Boy” (1937). 

Mr. Meisner played Willie Wax in “Rocket to the Moon” (1938) as well as Gus-the-hurrying-salesman and Mr. Gilbert in “Night Music” (1940).  He directed “The Criminals” (1941), “I’ll Take the High Road,” and “Listen Professor!” (both 1943). He played Marmeladoff in the classic Dostoyevsky drama “Crime and Punishment” (1947). In 1955, Mr. Meisner directed a revival of “The Time of Your Life.”  In the movies Sanford Meisner played the Prosecuting Attorney in “The Story on Page One” (1959) and the Psychoanalyst in “Tender is the Night” (1962).

Mr. Meisner joined the staff of the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre (NYC) in the fall of 1935, and was elected president of the school in 1936. He stayed on as president until 1959 when he left to teach privately in Los Angeles. In LA, Meisner headed the new talent division of 20th Century Fox (1958-61). He returned to New York to head the drama department of the American Musical Theatre Academy (1962-64). Sanford Meisner went back to his former position at the Neighborhood Playhouse School in 1964 and stayed there up until his death.

Obviously Sanford Meisner had many enriching experiences in the theatre and that made him very qualified to teach and spread his knowledge!

Web Bio: Born August 31, 1905, and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Sanford Meisner graduated form Erasmus Hall in 1923 and attended The Damrash Institute of Music (now Juilliard), where he studied to become a concert pianist before talking his way into a job in a Theater Guild production of Sidney Howard's They Knew What They Wanted. He realized then that acting which really "dug at him" was what he was looking to find. In 1931, a fervent group of young actors, including Meisner, Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, and Harold Clurman, among others, joined together to establish the Group Theatre. It was the first permanent theatre company that brought "Method" acting, rooted in the methods of

Konstantin Stanislavsky, to practice and prominence in America. Meisner appeared in twelve Group productions, including the first, The House of Connelly, and all of Clifford Odets' plays, including Waiting for Lefty, which Meisner co-directed with Odets in 1935. In 1933 Meisner became disenchanted with pure "Method" acting. He wrote, "Actors are not guinea pigs to be manipulated, dissected, let alone in a purely negative way. Our approach was not organic, that is to say not healthy." Meisner had ongoing discussions about technique with Adler, who worked with Stanislavsky in Paris, and Clurman, who took a deep interest in the American character. Eventually Meisner realized that if American actors were ever going to achieve the goal of "living truthfully under imaginary circumstances," an American approach was needed. The Neighborhood Playhouse provided him with a venue to develop that approach on his own. In 1935 he headed the Drama Department at The Playhouse, while continuing to act and direct plays produced by The Group Theatre until its demise in 1940. He also appeared on Broadway in Embezzled (1944) and Crime and Punishment (1948). He directed The Time of Your Life (1955) and acted in The Cold Wind and the Warm (1958). Meisner left The Playhouse in 1958 to become director of the New Talent Division of Twentieth Century Fox. He moved to Los Angeles, where he was also able to cultivate his career as a film actor. He starred in Odets' The Story on Page One (1959), Tender Is the Night (1962), and later Mikey and Nicky (1976). He returned to the Neighborhood Playhouse as head of the Drama Department from 1964-1990. In 1985 Meisner and James Carville co-founded The Meisner/Carville School of Acting on the Island of Bequia in the West Indies. They later extended the school to North Hollywood, California, where it still exists with Martin Barter as Artistic Director and head teacher. Meisner, Carville, and Barter opened The Sanford Meisner Center for the Arts in March 1995, and later the school and theatre were combined to form The Sanford Meisner Center, today the only school and theatre to operate under Meisner's name. Meisner received commendations from Presidents Clinton, Bush and Reagan. He was honored by California Governor Pete Wilson and was named the "Humanitarian of the Year 1990" by The Washington Charity Awards. His final appearance as an actor was in a guest starring role on a special episode of "ER" that aired in February 1995. Upon his death on February 2, 1997, Backstage West dedicated an issue to Meisner and his world-renowned "Meisner Technique." Arthur Miller once said of Meisner, "He has been the most principled teacher of acting in this country for decades now, and every time I am reading actors I can pretty well tell which ones have studied with Meisner. It is because they are honest and simple and don't lay on complications that aren't necessary."

Sanford Meisner on Acting by Meisner and Longwell and The Sanford Meisner Approach (Workbooks I – IV) by Larry Silverberg

	Sanford Meisner on Acting
	Beginning Acting Exercise

Sample Acting Exercises by Sanford Meisner

1. “One Word” story – a) If say more than one word, start again. b) Take out pauses, allow the story to guide you.  c) Two main characters, tighten circle, eyes closed. (no anticipation/listening)  “Acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.”
2. Repetition: The First Step.  a) Groups of 3 – observer, A and B face each other.  Observer says “begin.”  A turns head to B and says the first thing s/he notices (physical observation) – no conjectures.  Then B.  The observer coaches (ex. Did they say the 1st thing?)  b) Now B repeats A until the observer says to stop.  (Re-do if “stop” is anticipated, or still repeat if there is a mistake. Don’t mimic, just repeat.  Don’t drop the repetition, don’t try to be interesting or top one another; no pauses – really listen)
3. Impulse Response Sentence Repetition, Repetition with Independent Activity, Three Knocks, Beyond Repetition.

Additional Weblinks for Sanford Meisner

	The Meisner Center
	Wikipedia online Encyclopedia
	Britannica Student Encyclopedia