Meisner.Stella Adler.Chekhov

body.imagination.listening

ACTORS

METHOD

THE MEISNER TECHNIQUE

STELLA ADLER CHARACTER WORK

THE CHEKHOV TECHNIQUE

Actor's training on the complete process and essential preparation through
Body, Imagination and Listening.

In 3 levels divided into sessions A and B, actors are guided in a disciplined exploration to intuitively access the deeper inner-truth of character and scene.

For Each Session:
6 Classes
2 days a week for 3 hours

$375 payment by e-transfer

Level 1
A
Understanding the actors instrument, their body. -Chekhov
Grounding the body with rootedness in human psyche -Chekhov
Opening infinite realm of imagination -Chekhov, Adler
Surrendering to first impulse -Chekhov. Meisner
Experiencing the moment of being present -Meisner
B
Creating through feelings and intuitive response -Chekhov, Adler
Elevating imagination to conjure feelings organically -Adler
Allowing self the authenticity of personal connection -Meisner
Reacting truthfully from moment to unanticipated moment -Meisner
Scene Study

Level 2
A
Exploring dynamics of body movement and behaviour -Chekhov
Releasing mind to build from creative subconscious -Chekhov
Crafting a sense of time, environment and atmosphere -Adler
Total immersion in the reality of doing -Meisner
Reacting truthfully from moment to unanticipated moment -Meisner
B
Awareness of body through harnessing energy from centre. -Chekhov
Imaginatively travelling to build specific deeper meaning. -Adler
Creating past memories by endowing emotional weight -Adler
Total immersion in reality of doing with specific circumstances -Meisner
Reacting truthfully from moment to unanticipated moment -Meisner
Scene Study

Level 3
A
Accessing body triggers to intensify emotional preparation -Chekhov
Heightening emotional reality under imaginary circumstances -Adler
Justification through specifying relationships -Adler
Imaginatively travelling to build specific deeper meaning. -Adler
Reality of doing under circumstances with specific relationship -Meisner
Reacting truthfully from moment to unanticipated moment -Meisner
B
Character's primitive animal.
Character's inner rhythm and outer habits.
Character's society, culture and ideology.
Character's emotional weight and psychological size to life.
Character through esoteric elements and symbolism.
Character's outfit, shoes, walk and stature.
Reacting truthfully from moment to unanticipated moment -Meisner
Scene Study

Original stage production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. From left: Karl Malden, Kim Hunter, Marlon Brando & Jessica Tandy.

"Acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances" -Sanford Meisner

The Meisner Technique is an interdependent series of training exercises that builds on one another. The more complex work supports a command of dramatic text. Actors work on a series of progressively complex exercises to develop an ability to improvise, to access an emotional life, and finally to bring spontaneity of improvisation and the richness of personal response to textual work. The technique aims to force an actor into the moment, while simultaneously propelling the actor forward with concentrated purpose. The more an actor can take in about their partner, the more the actor can leave themselves alone and live truthfully from moment to unanticipated moment.

ACTORS INFLUENCED BY SANFORD MEISNER

- Robert Duvall

- Diane Keaton

- Philip Seymour Hoffman

- Naomi Watts

- James Franco

TO BE AN ACTOR.

Jeff Goldblum on The Meisner Technique and being an actor.

WHAT IS THIS TRUTH?

Patsy Rodenburg speaking at Michael Howard Studios in NYC.

"Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one" -Stella Adler

Stella Adler believed that the actor did not have what is required to play a variety of roles already instilled inside them and that extensive research was needed to understand the experiences of characters who have different values originating from different cultures. One must study the values of different people to understand what situations would have meant to people, that in the actor's own culture might mean nothing. Without this work she said an actor walks onto the stage "naked”. She also trained actors sensory imagination to help make the characters' experiences more vivid. 99% of the character’s experiences must come from the imagination. The actor must go beyond their own precious inner experiences to that of the character.

ACTORS INFLUENCED BY STELLA ADLER

- Marlon Brando

- Robert De Niro

- Salma Hayek

- Benicio del Toro

"An actor has to burn inside with an outer ease" -Michael Chekhov

Chekhov Technique, the actor physicalize a character’s need or internal dynamic in the form of an external gesture. Subsequently, the outward gesture is suppressed and incorporated internally, allowing the physical memory to inform the performance on an unconscious level. To access the unconscious creative self through indirect non-analytical means. Chekhov taught a range of movement dynamics such as molding, floating, flying, and radiating that actors use to find the physical core of a character. The Chekhov Technique, though seemingly external, is meant to lead the actor to a rich internal life.

ACTORS INFLUENCED BY MIKHAIL CHEKHOV

- Marilyn Monroe

- Anthony Hopkins

- Johnny Depp

There is a spirit within us which drives us. You can dumb it down in complexity but if you released it then you would have to explore it and give it a larger perspective than your immediate surroundings. If you really understand that spirit, it is about self-exploration.

Taught by professional working actors; The Meisner Technique, Stella Adler's Character Work & The Chekhov Technique are exercised to intensify on emotional preparation through body, imagination & listening:

Body: In acting it is about forgetting yourself and letting go. To go with the sensation. The head is not leading, it is the body. In the body you have every layer. You have the intuition, the emotions, the need of words and the spirit. If you do not have everything in one body, the body is useless. The body contains everything.

Imagination: Your imagination will tell you what the right question is, it won't tell you the answer, it will lead you to the answer. The fundamental problem is that most artists don't know what the fundamental problem is. In the complex world we live in, we forgot how to look for it.

Listening: To connect and be completely open, starts with listening. There is a nakedness, a peeling of the layers. A vulnerability of physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually being present at every level. Open to anything, anything can happen. You don't have the will of forcing something. When listening, there is no fabrication of acting, only being.

New

Drama

Company

Imagination: Your imagination will tell you what the right question is, it won't tell you the answer, it will lead you to the answer. The fundamental problem is that most artists don't know what the fundamental problem is. In the complex world we live in, we forgot how to look for it.

Forget yourself. To know without knowing.

Contact for enrollment or questions.

Imagination: Your imagination will tell you what the right question is, it won't tell you the answer, it will lead you to the answer. The fundamental problem is that most artists don't know what the fundamental problem is. In the complex world we live in, we forgot how to look for it.

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﻿Forget yourself. To know without knowing.

Contact for enrollment or questions.

Forget yourself. To know without knowing.