The Meisner Technique is an acting technique developed by, and named for, Sanford Meisner.
It has influenced some of the most popular stage and screen actors of our time. Sanford Meisner developed his technique while working with the Group Theater at New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse and continued its refinement for fifty years. Today the technique is part of a two-year program at the Neighborhood Playhouse and other studios and university programs throughout the United States.
The great strength of Meisner Training is its cohesive, interdependent, series of exercises that build upon each other. The basic exercises are critical for later ones, and the more complex work is used, in turn, to support a command of actual dramatic text.
Meisner students work on a series of increasingly complex exercises designed to develop an ability first to improvise, then to access an emotional life, and finally to bring the spontaneity of improvisation and the richness of personal response to scripted text. The technique builds upon teachings of Konstantin Stanislavski (father of the Stanislavski System and grandfather of the elusive American "Method"). Emphasizing "moment-to-moment" spontaneity through communion with other actors allows adherents to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances.
There are literally hundreds of "Meisner teachers" in the United States of America, although there are no objective standards or licensing procedures to monitor the authenticity or accuracy of their work. As a result, one can study with one Meisner teacher who emphasizes certain aspects, and go to a different Meisner teacher whose personal interpretation is widely varied from the first. This is true of all the major approaches to acting.
Other more character-based techniques are often used to supplement the training — Meisner himself recommended the study of Michael Chekhov's work. The Meisner technique is sometines rounded out with more character-based, physical practices such as Michael Chekhov and with study of style, physicality, and period. Whatever combination is applied, the saying at the Neighborhood Playhouse is that it takes two years to learn the technique, five years to learn how to use it, and twenty years to become a master.
Meisner emphasized doing with early training heavily based on actions. The questions "what are you playing" and "what are you doing" are frequently asked in class to remind actors to commit themselves to an objective rather than a script. Silence, dialogue, and activity all require the actor to find a purpose for performing the action. By combining the two main tasks of focusing one's attention on one's partner and committing to an action, the technique aims to compel an actor into the moment (a common Meisner phrase), while simultaneously propelling him forward with concentrated purpose. The more an actor is able to take in his partner and his surroundings while performing his action the more he is able to leave himself alone and live truthfully.
The most fundamental exercise in Meisner training is called Repetition. Two actors face each other and "repeat" their observations about one another back and forth. An example of such an exchange — "You're smiling." "I'm smiling." "You're smiling!" "Yes, I'm smiling." — illustrates this exercise. Actors are asked to observe and respond to others' behavior and the subtext therein. If they can "pick up the impulse" — or work spontaneously from how their partner's behavior affects them — their own behavior will arise directly from the stimulus of the other.
Later, as the exercise evolves in complexity to include "given circumstances," "relationships," actions and obstacles, this skill remains critical. From start to finish — from Repetition to rehearsing a lead role.