Meisner Technique Quotes

One can use standard principles and textbooks in educating people for law, medicine, architecture, chemistry or almost any other profession—but not for the theater. For, in most professions, every practitioner uses the same tools and techniques, while the actor’s chief instrument is himself. And since no two persons are alike, no universal rule is applicable to any two actors in exactly the same way.

The only thing you have to offer as an actor is your unique personality, that which is yours and yours alone.

Painters make their art from brushes, canvas, and hues. Sculptors work in clay and bronze, stone, and plaster. Writers use pens and paper—lately they use computers. Musicians have their instruments. But what does an actor use to create his art? Some would say nothing, but this isn’t true. In fact, the actor has the most complicated instrument of all—himself! His experiences, his imagination, his sensitivity. His physical body and his observations. Everything that makes up the sum total of a person’s humanity is part of the actor’s instrument. As Eleonora Duse once said, ‘All that I have to offer as an artist is the revelation of my soul.

Certain words, certain expressions. Things like ‘I love you’ and ‘I hate you.’ They’re big traps for actors. They can tempt you away from the connection you’ve developed with your partner and lead you into swamplands of clichéd performing. ‘Love’ and ‘hate’ are powerful words, and for some reason, we feel like we must fulfill them—and other words like them—whenever we say them. But we don’t have to.” Bill turns to Adam. “Actors hit that line—‘you know I’m absolutely crazy about you. Don’t you?’—and go all kablooey. Your head’s saying, ‘How can I not say a line like that without letting love swim into the duck pond? But inside you’re saying, ‘To hell will love! This girl’s really pissed me off, breaking off an important date like that.’ Follow your true inner response. It will never lead you astray. You’ll be bubbling up with impatience and irritation and you’ll say a line like that and it’ll have new meaning. It’ll have your meaning. Remember: Bad actors consciously adjust their inner responses to what they think the lines of the text require. Good actors adjust the text to the inner emotional line created by their sensitized responses to the other actor.” Adam says, “I get it. I was trying to act the words.” Bill nods. “You were manipulating yourself, cutting off our real response in order to live up to what you thought the text demanded of you. But any line can mean anything, and come out of you in any way.

Let’s revisit my conversation with Theater Director, Teacher, and Actor Terry Martin and the Meisner Technique. According to Terry, he encourages his students to seek a pivotal place when they are truly present in the moment and access their emotional impulses. He does this by describing emotions as E-motion. Energy in motion. Because they are constantly changing, emotions are powerful but momentary. By accessing these emotions, his actors find a way to tell a story in their unique way. He cautions that emotions only create a block if they are restrained. For example, my attempts to silence my emotions prevented me from accessing my mind and held me in a painful state. He teaches his students to understand the emotional journey by accepting their emotions.

Truth is the blood of art. Without truth a piece of art fails to touch the human spirit.” Someone in the back row grunts their approval, and Bill continues. “Now let’s look at the other side of this definition, the imaginary part. Imagination is pivotal for actors because everything we do, every piece of our craft takes place in the world of imagination.

Discipline is what separates the artist from the appreciator of art.

Impulses are the most important things we have as artists. Stop judging them. Get out of their way and follow wherever they lead.

Why trouble ourselves to create a living, breathing part for the stage, a character who is vivid, real, and alive in every way? I can’t speak for each of you, but I bet the answer goes back to why you want to act in the first place. There’s something within you you want to share, something you know will make a difference in this world if only you find a way to release it, polish it, show it to others. We are connected to one another in ways we cannot possibly comprehend, but it’s easy to forget this. Life seems hell-bent on breaking the few timorous connections we maintain with one another. But the child in each of us never dies and the signals we want to emit over this massive web were not meant to be kept to ourselves. The hard work is hard for a reason: in the end, it’s the work worth doing.

The reality of doing is the single most important principle of truthful acting. It is the key that allows you to unlock the door to the imaginary world, enter it, and live there truthfully.

When master actors act, their craft becomes invisible. Their art becomes artless. Not so in other disciplines. When we saw Baryshnikov leap or heard Joan Sutherland sing, we were forced to recognize the skill of the artist. You can’t listen to Yo-Yo Ma play the cello without recognizing brilliance. But real acting can never be pegged because it cannot be differentiated from real life.