This workshop will provide a great foundation for beginning actors who are unfamiliar with on-camera techniques or with the Meisner acting method.
You will be introduced to the basic techniques and principles taught by Sanford Meisner. You’ll practice exercises that will help you stay in the moment; working spontaneously with your acting partner and you’ll learn to pick powerful acting choices anchored in truth. Everyone tightens up as soon as the director says, “Action!”. So, you’ll spend a considerable amount time in front of the camera and will learn to interpret the director’s intention while working through your jitters. This class will introduce you to Meisner’s techniques and on-camera exercises in a way that’s fun and incredibly powerful. You’ll meet people who are serious about acting and those who just want to try something new.
What will be covered in this workshop?
- The Meisner “as if” technique
- Working from a scene’s objective
- Meisner repeat exercises
- The language of camera blocking
- On-camera auditioning techniques
- Introduction to continuity
Who is Sanford Meisner and what’s the big deal?
The renowned Sanford Meisner explained that his approach to acting was designed “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 and what is being done to him”. Click here see more on Sanford Meisner.
About Sanford Meisner
From PBS “American Masters”
“For Meisner, acting was about reproducing honest emotional human reactions. He felt the actor’s job was simply to prepare for an experiment that would take place on stage. The best acting, he believed, was made up of spontaneous responses to the actor’s immediate surroundings”.
Why do I need a technique?It’s not uncommon for beginning directors to be clueless about how to convey the emotion they are looking for from an actor. This can be unfortunate and makes for lackluster performances. There are times when an actor happens to nail the intended emotion for the scene, despite the director’s lack of clarification. Although, when this happens, it is the director’s good luck – not effectiveness in his craft.An actor needs to be able to be vulnerable, not insecure. When a director properly prepares an actor, it makes it possible for the actor to be open to the moment and ready to react to the other actor. The techniques I will show you will provide both the actor and director with a language and a structure to safely explore the emotional life of the scene. The actor explores, and with the director’s insight, they dial-in the scene.I’ve spent years learning and working on my craft as both an actor and a director and studied with first-generation Neighborhood Playhouse graduate and Sanford Meisner student, Keith Eagle, for four years. I’ve taught hundreds of beginning actors and I’ve cast thousands of roles. I’ve also been hired to prep actors for other directors and I truly love the acting process.My instruction will not be reinventing the wheel. I’ll simply pass along the gift that was given to me during those years I spent learning Sanford Meisner’s acting method…and it is a proven method. Meisner taught Sydney Pollack, John Voight, Diane Keaton and many other Hollywood names. So, this class will place you into distinguished lineage! If you’ve always wondered what it would be like to act, now is your time to try. Break a leg !!!
 “As a director, John has a keen eye. But what I admire the most about John is the way he gently and playfully coaxes the very best out of the people, both on and off set, that have the good fortune to work with him.” - Sandra Bargman SAG, – AEA |
Meet Your Instructor: John Holser
These will be Wednesday nights. July 11th,18th,25th – August 1st,8th $395
