Fundamental Exercises in

“The Reality of Doing”

I guide actors through the most effective and essential exercises based on what Meisner called “the reality of doing”, which simply means whatever one does as an actor , one must do truthfully and completely without faking or avoiding.

By placing your attention fully onto the behavior of your acting partner through active listening and by engaging in activities grounded in your personal sense of truth you will learn to respond spontaneously and naturally from your authentic point of view.

By applying yourself to these exercises, you will develop a habit for the truth in your work and learn to live one free and spontaneous moment to the next under imaginary circumstances without ever manufacturing unjustified behavior.

Improvisation

The ability to improvise is an essential skill. You never know when a director will ask you to do it! Particularly at an audition or on the film set.

Improvisation in acting is the ability to live fully under an imagined set of circumstances by playing off the behavior of other actors, from moment to moment, without a script. A scripted scene should have the immediacy and spontaneity of an improvisation. In short, the value of learning to improvise and the ability to bring that spontaneous spirit to the script is the difference between a scene that truly lives and one that doesn't.

It is also a valuable tool for a deeper understanding of a scene by setting up improvisations intended to explore your objectives and relationships.

Monologues

Most theatrical auditions require an actor to perform a monologue.

A monologue is when a character speaks without interruption. It happens when the character finds it absolutely necessary to reveal their opinion or open their heart to another in a scene. When you are performing a monologue you are always playing a specific action with the intention of influencing the behavior of the other.

We explore exactly why these words need to be said by understanding the full emotional circumstances behind them, the moment the speech occurs within the scene, and to whom the speech is directed. Most importantly, we discover what is at stake : the character’s personal need behind the words and/or the behavioral change the character hopes to provoke in the other.

My approach is to have you first work with a real listening partner and to treat the monologue like a one sided dialogue. By establishing a listening connection to a real partner you discover that your behavior must adjust as you attempt to affect or influence the partner’s behavior from one moment to the next.

I then lead you to speak the monologue to a specific imaginary person . The person you imagine should both create the greatest need in you to act and also be in line with the author’s intention. I encourage you , from time to time, to imagine how you are affecting the behavior of the imaginary person as you attempt to influence them with your speech. I also encourage you to be affected by what you “see” in the imaginary other, and let it color how you perform your next moment. This practice will make your monologue come to life and make us truly believe you are speaking to someone for a specific, emotional reason. And remember, you must always emotionally prepare from “the moment before” - that place in the script before you launch into the monologue.

Scene Study

The actor should have the ability to pick up a scene from a play, film or TV series and make some essential choices in order to bring it to life. After the actors read the scene, I usually ask: Can you imagine what is going on ?

Who are you in the scene ? What is your relation to the others in the scene? What is it you want and what stands in the way of you getting it? What specific actions do you perform to get what you want? Also, what is at stake ; what would it mean if you didn’t get what you desire? And what would it mean if you did? And, maybe the most important question of all : WHY does this scene need to happen in the first place? In answering these questions, I will show you how to personalize the text, by crafting an inner life based on your own understanding. This will allow you to live and breathe as the character, and propel you to exciting action.

“Pinch & Ouch”, The Meisner way to text:

After the text is learned by heart and in a neutral manner - without emotion assigned to any line - I then lead you in an exercise designed to place all of your listening attention on your partner. By anchoring your attention to your partner’s behavior , the text emerges spontaneously, riding on the exchange of impulses between the two of you as you do the scene. When you send a bit of text and behavior to your parner you are sending the “pinch” that, if you are connected, should create a natural “ouch” or answer from your partner. That “ouch”or answer becomes your “pinch”, and so on. The result is an unpredictable exchange of behavior, full of life and beautiful conflict.

Let us help you create professional content for your actor’s reel. We will professionally directed, shot and edited a monologue or scene of your choice.

Any serious actor , especially if she wishes to work in film, the next Netfilx series or in commercials should have a reel.

Your resumé might be the “promise” that you can deliver as an actor but the reel is the “proof” you might be right for the job.

As a filmmaker, it is the first and maybe the only thing I look at to determine if someone should be called in for an audition.

Let us help you create the content for your first reel or add fresh compelling material to the one you may currently have .