On Meisner

Red.

Red. Red. Red.

Red shirt. Red shirt. Red shirt. Red shirt. Red shirt. Red shirt.

You are wearing a red shirt. I am not wearing a red shirt. You are wearing a red shirt. I am not wearing a red shirt. You are wearing a red shirt.

...and on and on it goes.

If you've never taken a Meisner class, that's pretty much what the first three months sound like, over and over and over again. It can get pretty tedious, but then, Meisner was a genius. He understood that the best way to get an actor out of her head was to make her endlessly repeat this observational drivel until her instincts kick in and she acts not from some pre-concieved idea about what the lines mean but from within the electricity of the moment, the subtext, the gut.

There is much I love about Sanford Meisner's acting technique. Meisner is a wonderful exercise for connecting with another human being on a very visceral level. It heightens the actor's awareness. It grounds the actor in the idea that every action is actually a reaction, that listening is imperative, that we exist in relationship and that the walls we erect around our beings are so much more impenetrable than we ever imagine them to be.

Pinch/Ouch. Let it do you. Put your attention on the other person.

But.
Yes, here is the 'but':

I think there comes a time in an actors training when she needs to realize that Meisner is but one weapon in the arsenal to be fired when appropriate. After all, how many times have you caught yourself not really listening to the friend who is pouring her heart out? How many times have you lied to yourself about who you are and what you want? How many times have you wanted to react from your gut, your instinct, but held yourself back and used that rational brain instead?

This is where Meisner falls short as an acting technique. The technique offers an actor a tremendous advantage of honing in on the world around you, both audibly and somatically. But, the characters in the play don't always listen (heck! this is the recipe for comedy gold). Sometimes, even when the character does listen, she doesn't always care. The characters in the movie lie to themselves and to each other and bite their tongues all the time and we, as actors, cannot forget that. To assume that every character listens well, is honed in on her partner and acts according to her gut is to erase what often lies at the heart of a scintillating plotline.

On the other hand, Meisner is great for preparing the actor's instrument to make terrific, genuine, human drama. So what if we brought Sanford Meisner's famous technique into the "real world"? As Hitchcock famously said, "Drama is life with all the dull bits cut out." Life often suffers from inattention. We don't listen. We don't react. We don't let people in because it feels scary and vulnerable and overwhelming.

How much more raw, engaging, and authentic might life be if we all actually listened? If we dropped our cleverly transparent walls and just let it hurt? If we let it do us? If we felt the 'pinch/ouch' of a moment in time and responded genuinely? If we put our attention on the other person?

Would we find ourselves in pieces, shrinking and shaking in impotence?
Or, might we find that our neighbor is just as scared, lackadaisical, vulnerable, overwhelmed, interested, fucked up, and joyful as we?




***For great Meisner training in Boulder, CO, check out Chris Thatcher! He's super dedicated and has that eye for authenticity that makes acting class such a rewarding experience.***