Sanford Meisner's birthday
Sanford Meisner (August 31, 1905 – February 2, 1997) was an American actor and acting teacher who developed an approach to acting instruction that is now known as the Meisner technique. While Meisner was exposed to method acting at the Group Theatre, his approach differed markedly in that he completely abandoned the use of affective memory, a distinct characteristic of method acting. Meisner maintained an emphasis on "the reality of doing", which was the foundation of his approach.
Meisner says: Silence has a thousand meanings... In the theater, silence is the absence of words, but it is never the absence of meaning.I decided to give the actors a practice without thinking. I wanted to remove all that mental work, to separate all the mental measures and get to the place where the immediate driving force comes from, and I started with the logic that if I repeat what I hear from you, I have not used my mind to work. I am listening; Here is the absolute elimination of thought.
Then I reached the next stage. ... This (exercise) continues for five or six times until it is so important that your denial creates in me an immediate driving force that comes directly from repetition and compels me to react to you!It's the repetition that leads to instant drive. There is no thinking. The emotion and the driving force is immediate, and gradually when the actors I teach improvise, what they say - similar to what the composer writes - is not from their thoughts, it really comes from the driving force of the moment.
I will tell you why the practice of repetition is not, in essence, boring: repetition plays on the source of all natural creativity, the immediate driving force within.A professional is one who learns to channel his instincts, not to act them out.
I am an infinitely irrational teacher of acting.The basis of the method is to return the actor to his immediate emotional driving force and to a game that is strongly rooted in instinct. This method is based on the fact that all good games come from the heart and there is no mental force in them.
Sanford Meisner
"Sanford Meisner's Acting Technique"