Created by Sanford Meisner of New York’s influential Group Theatre, the Meisner Technique creates truthful, emotionally-connected actors. Meisner-trained actors include Steve McQueen, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, James Gandolfini, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Allison Janey and Connie Britton. 

The Meisner Technique gets you out of your head and into the moment. At Actors Bridge, we take students through a step-by-step approach to the Meisner Technique giving them a strong foundation in being an emotionally available, truthfully responsive actor.

Whether you are an actor interested in deepening your craft or someone looking for greater confidence, spontaneity and intuition in your everyday life, the Meisner Technique can help you on your journey.

Some guiding principles of the Meisner Technique include:

• Acting is the ability to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances.
• The foundation of acting is the reality of doing.
• There's no such thing as nothing.
• Acting is about instincts and intuition not intellect (heart not head).
• Active awareness frees actors from selfconsciousness on stage.

THE FULL MEISNER SERIES:

LEVEL ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE MEISNER TECHNIQUE   
This course introduces the concepts of the approach and develops the actors' instinct, encouraging actors to work with greater spontaneity and honesty.

LEVEL TWO: SCENE STUDY       
Actors work in improvisation and scenework learning to be emotionally full and truthfully responsive in performance.

LEVEL THREE: EMOTIONAL PREPARATION    
Perhaps the most integral part of the Meisner approach, at this level, actors learn to have emotional truthfulness that is appropriate to the imaginary circumstances of the scene.

LEVEL FOUR: SCENE STUDY W/EMOTIONAL PREPARATION   
More complex improvisations and more challenging scenework are assigned as students learn to put emotional preparation to practice.

LEVEL FIVE: INTERPRETATION AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT   
At this level, actors confront challenges associated with performance. Students develop the ability to apply personal interpretations to the text and build appropriate characters through attention to culture, period, language, and physical adjustments.

ADVANCED ACTING: BOOK OF DAYS PLAY PROJECT
This class is for students who have completed Levels I-IV of the program.  Emphasis is on individual performance development and on-going scenework. Beginning with auditions, we will work from table read through final performance in this intensive using Lanford Wilson's BOOK OF DAYS employing all aspects of the Meisner Technique in the rehearsal process. Students must be able to commit to full process. Email Vali here to learn more.

For more information and/or inquiries please visit www.actorsbridge.org