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Wayne Dvorak Acting Studio About the Meisner Technique |
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There are several types of acting "methods" or techniques. Each type has a slightly different approach or system. As an actor, it is important for you to research and get to know what kind you like and will work for you. One of the well-known acting approaches is called the Meisner Technique. This is the type of technique taught at the Wayne Dvorak Acting Studio. The technique derives its name from a man named Sanford Meisner who developed this approach, which is rooted in many of the principles of the Stanislavsky System of Acting and the magic "if" -- how would I feel if I really were this person in this situation?
The Meisner Technique is a very thorough foundation of work. It teaches its students to "live truthfully under imaginary circumstances." You can read about Sanford Meisner and his technique in the book Sanford Meisner On Acting. Famous people and movie stars who have studied the Meisner Technique include Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Jon Voight, Mary Steenburgen, David Mamet, Jeff Goldblum, Gregory Peck, Sydney Pollack, Mark Rydell, Tom Cruise, Kim Basinger, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Grace Kelly. When you’re working on a scene, you’re constantly trying to find the truthful essence of the scene and all the scripted elements which have emotional meanings that become your emotional buttons in the scene. In order to do that, you have to be able to know how to access those emotions. The Meisner Technique teaches you how to access and stretch your emotional range. In film, television, or a play, all the writer is doing is giving you the narrative of the story. As an actor, it is your job to express the depth of the feeling of the characters within that narrative. The Meisner Technique teaches you how to do that by coming from a deep emotional point of view, instead of just reciting dialogue with a mood. Additionally, the Meisner Technique has, as a basis, exercises that are often called "repetitions"; this is where actors repeat from their point of view what they're feeling back and forth, and go with the emotional changes that come up in the repetition. The repetitions allow you as an actor to constantly open up more and more into unexplored emotional areas and become comfortable with your point of view without morally judging it -- bad guys have vulnerable feelings too! At the Wayne Dvorak Acting Studio, the Meisner Technique is taught through the Meisner Exercises and Scene Study. Mr. Dvorak has broken down the Meisner Exercises into seven specific levels which start in a very simple way and gradually become very complex; at the end of understanding all these levels, the actor is capable of doing very complex character work -- both for comedy and drama. |
Wayne's Meisner program has
been the most pivotal for my acting technique. And, he's the only
Meisner coach in Los Angeles who can show you how to use Meisner in
comedy!
Wayne has promoted my
self-exploration, getting in touch with my talent, and identifying my
strengths and weaknesses.
Wayne's insight in analyzing
his students shows you who you really are and how to make use of your own
uniqueness. |
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