Sanford Meisner

 

Sanford Meisner On Acting "Be Specific"  "An ounce of behavior is worth a pound of words."  " sturm sturm and drang" 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

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Actin Acting g comes comes from from yo your ur heart, heart, not your your head. The founda foundatio tion n of acti acting ng is is the the reality of doing. doing. Acting is Living truthfully under imaginary circumstances. Good act actors ors are are impolite, impolite, reactionar reactionary, y, violen violent, t, and abrasive abrasive and do the exact exact opposite of what polite society expects. If you'r you're e really doi doing ng it, and you're you're concentra concentrated ted on the other other perso person n or activity, activity, then you don't have the time to watch yourself doing it. The There' re's s not such such thin thing g as nothi nothing. ng. Your in instinc stincts ts pick up on on changes changes in behavior behavior,, and the dialog dialog foll follows. ows. Allow lowing spontaneous instinct to react without conscious thought. Deepl Deeply y instinc instinctive tive behavior behavior and honest honesty. y. Strip aw away ay wha whatt society has has trained trained us to say. Controlling Controlling is the opposite opposite of the sponta spontaneous neous.. This is NOT about about thinking thinking or controlle controlled d thoughts, thoughts, its just about about letting letting it out. Respond Respond with one one moment, moment, one note at a time. (do (don't n't explain explain or contrive contrive thoughts thoughts,,  just respond, simple and and concise) Use EVERYTH EVERYTHING. ING. Sile Silence, nce, looks, looks, pauses, pauses, mo movemen vements ts - what do they mean mean to you? Whatever Whatever your partner partner does, does, you you im imitate itate it. FUCK FUCK polite! polite! You You are are not a gentl gentlema eman. n. Good acting acting comes comes from from the HEART, HEART, there there is no thinking thinking in that. that. Be inven inventive, tive, have ideas, ideas, iimagin magination ation Acting Acting isn't about about you talking, talking, it's listening listening and reacti reacting ng off the other pe person rson.. Silence Silence is ok. Don't Don't do anythin anything g until somethi something ng comp compels els you to do it. it. Public Solitude - Stanslavski - When you're alone in your room, you are so relaxed that it's very interested. You behave very freely. That is what we want to see on stage. The truth truth of oursel ourselves ves iitt the root of acting. acting. Every little moment has a meaning all its own. Is the doing doing theatrica theatrical, l, for show? show? Or does it have have an intent, intent, a me meanin aning g that is personal behind it? Allow emotional emotional,, heart-felt, instinctual, impulses, not logical. Thought is the enemy, just react to the other person's behavior. behavior. Justify Justify - Every Everything thing has a reason reason for being. being. The truth truth of y your our instinc instincts ts is the the root of of your founda foundation. tion. Ar Are e you you acti acting ng from your heart? heart? One of the parado paradoxes xes of ac acting ting is that that you have have to let go of and and lose your your cons consciou cious s self, that which drives you to be an actor in the first place, in order to become someone else. A particularization particularization,, an "as-if  "as-if " is your personal example chosen from your experiences or your imagination which emotionally clarifies the cold material of the text. Ask yourself yourself ques questions, tions, details details about the character character and and surrounding surrounding c circumstances. ircumstances. You You fin find d m mea eani ning ng in what moves you. you. What's your Point of View or bias? Do you find the matter funny, sad, mournful,

etc? 33.. hysterical, 33 Char Charac acte terr is HOW you do what you do. do .

 

34.. The ac 34 actor tor's fear of not being accepted will hinder emotions and performance. The actor wants to be loved by the audience but they need to let that go so they can perform freely. 35. Don't do any anything thing unless unless somet something hing happen happens s to make make you do do it. 36. What you you do doesn't doesn't depend depend on you you,, it depends depends on the the other other fellow. fellow. 37. Your total attention and and focus is placed on the OTHER person. person. "You are... (blank)" (blank)" 38. Your instinc instinctt takes over. over. "You "You're 're a professio professional nal virgin" virgin" - Judgm Judgments. ents. Exercise: Chose something to do which is very difficult, if not nearly impossible to do. You MUST have a reason why you want to do that task. The difficulty strengthens your concentration. Pick something that is meaningful to you. Then the other actor approaches and talks. Don't do anything until something makes you do it. Learning lines cold Learn the lines cold, flat and mechanical. No tsuris (French for trouble). Run the dry lines with your partner while walking down the street, stop and get coffee. Learning the lines by rote, is neutral, meaningless, inhuman, robotic, raw, raw, unfiltered and untouched, emotionally. So that when we are in the moment, we can add the immediate, spontaneous emotions. This is trying to get away from bad habits that we've developed of verbal sounds and expressions. To start flat and then ONLY add what feels right with the other person.

Preparation (thoroughly justifying the beginning of a scene, the beginning of a line) • Use thin things gs that stimulate stimulate YOU. YOU. And only you. you. That are are specific specific and pers personal onal to you and NOT general. Personal details add fullness. • What sti stimulat mulates es you now may may not stimulate stimulate you in the future. future. Our st stimuli imuli changes changes,, which is why emotion memory doesn't work well. It's unreliable. • Befor Before e the scene scene starts, starts, what what can you do do to start start your emotion? emotion? To rev rev up your engine. • Indic Indicating ating is trying trying to show emotion emotion you're you're not feeling. feeling. But But really fee feeling ling true emotion can be HUGE. It can show itself. • Prep Preparat aration ion is daydreamin daydreaming, g, fantasies fantasies and imagining imagining that changes changes your your state of  being. • Freu Freud d says that that our fantas fantasies ies come come from either either sex or ambitio ambition n • The fantasy of the daydream is the most personal, most secret of the acting values. • We use our ima imagina gination tion to fulfill fulfill the emotional emotional condition condition be before fore we beg begin in the scen scene. e. • The memo memories, ries, objects, objects, intimacies intimacies,, daydreams, daydreams, self made made creations creations you use for your preparation, that put you into your correct emotional, mental, environmental, space are for you only. You needn't tell anyone what they are. If anyone asks, it's just your 'talent'. • Self st stimula imulation tion should should be bigger bigger and deeper. deeper. Don't Don't put put limits on it. it. • It is the reality reality of the emotion which makes the lie convincing. convincing. (emotional behavior) • Justify means to find cause or reason for an emotion to strongly affect you.

Improv Exercise 2 people live together, roommates or lovers, doesn't matter. One person has an independent activity, which they are doing intently. The other is coming in after having some great experience, either bad or good.

 

Exercise Take a paragraph from edgar lee spoon river anthology, take the last couple of lines. Figure out the emotional intent of ONLY those last lines and deliver the ENTIRE paragraph in that way. ie. if those lines are angry, then play the whole thing angry. If the last couple lines are happy, play the whole thing happy.

My Notes: Absolute truth - un-arguable facts Subjective truth - you're viewpoint, which is true to you, but may be false to someone else. Playing a scene improvisational/changing/fluid/dynamic improvisational/c hanging/fluid/dynamic/responsive/listening /responsive/listening vs planning/nailing down behavior as habit/memorizing speech patterns/static.

Repetition Exercise:

(class notes) Lean in and be open, be vulnerable. Open your heart to them. Be prepared to be sensitive and to be hurt by them. Take say what they'r they're e doing as a personal person al offense to you as a feeling, emotional person. We always "don't take it personally". But this IS personal. Am I affected? By them? By their behavior? Don't be smart, no logic, simple... reactionary. What am I missing that they're doing? There are all sorts of things that I could go in on. What are they doing to me that I can't even see? What are my impulses that I get from other people? • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Take iitt pers personall onally! y! Let it c come ome up, up, let the e emotio motions ns bubble bubble up! Verb Verbal al (emotional) (emotional) triggers triggers set off Emotional Emotional Respon Responses ses (mother, (mother, mother-rap mother-raper) er) The Pinch and the Ouch - For every pinch, there is a reactive ouch. How mu much ch do you care? care? About About the other other person? person? About About the scene? scene? About About your observations? Wh What at do you you wan want? t? Who ar are e y you ou attrac attracted ted to? Wh Who oa are re yo you u afr afrai aid d of? of? Who's tthe he LAST p perso erson n you'd want want to be stuck stuck in an elevato elevatorr with? Fin Find d a na name, me, a label. label. W Wha hatt are tthey hey? ? Mak Make e judgmen judgments ts about about the other other pers person. on. Make assumptio assumptions ns abou aboutt their their behavior. behavior. If the they y were were in prison prison,, what what would would they be in for? for? It is emotional emotional and impuls impulsive, ive, N NOT OT intellec intellectual. tual. Make ob observ servation ations s based based on the way tthey hey look or or on their behav behavior. ior. Irr Irrati ationa onal, l, irres irrespon ponsib sible, le, unsafe unsafe.. Be c creati reative! ve! Just Just llet et it flow out, don't think. think. Pinc Pinch h - affe affect ct th them em The b body ody show shows s all our our true true emotio emotions. ns. Subjective truth - you're viewpoint, which is true to you, but may be false to someone else.

You are _______ and it makes me ________ . I want to work with you because you're _________ and it makes me __________ .

 

Truth -- the connection to -- Imagination