Sanford Meisner Master Class

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Rated: Unrated
Type: DVD
Studio: Sanford Meisner Estate
Running Time: 461 minutes
Number of Items: 2
A comprehensive Master Class in acting taught by Sanford Meisner, this 8 hour instructional DVD set is the only existing video record of Meisner's teaching. Essential viewing for film, TV and theater actors and directors, these DVDs also offer artists of all disciplines the opportunity to learn directly from a master who is now considered one of the most important acting theorists and teachers of the twentieth century. In 1980, a group of Meisner's alumni recognized the importance of preserving his teachings for future generations. They banded together and filmed a Master Class with Sandy, short clips of which were used in the 1984 PBS special Sanford Meisner: Theatre's Best Kept Secret. Until now, the rest of the 28 hours of footage remained archived and unavailable. This DVD-set finally makes the footage from this class available to the general public; for the first time since his death in 1997, students can experience the Meisner Technique as taught by Meisner himself. A leading acting teacher who trained some of the most famous performers of the stage and screen, Sanford Meisner redefined Stanislavski's "Method" and revolutionized acting with his Meisner Technique. In 1931, a fervent group of young actors, including Sanford Meisner, Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg established the Group Theatre and brought Stanislavsky's Method acting to America. In 1933, Meisner became disenchanted with pure Method acting. From that point until his death in 1997, at age 91, Meisner developed his own technique. Meisner was an instructor and head of the acting department at the Neighborhood Playhouse for forty-eight years. For Meisner, acting was about reproducing honest emotional human reactions. The best acting, he believed, was made up of spontaneous responses to the actor's immediate surroundings. Sanford Meisner taught techniques to emphasize truthfulness and authenticity in art that resonate more strongly today than ever.

Invaluable
We must be grateful to Sydney Pollack who had the good sense to film Meisner's class for prosperity.

This DVD does more justice to the greatness of Meinser than all the Meisner books put together.

Pollack, who passed away recently, should be happy to join Meisner in the Artists' heaven.

Sanford Meisner Master Class: A Sense of Truth
FULL DISCLOSURE:

28 years ago, I was one of the young student actors asked to participate in this documentary. And, to provide some idea about how important I think this program is, most of "my" work in this documentary is almost all total failure; and frankly this embarrasses me.

That said:

Until now, I had been very proud of my participation in the documentary about Sanford Meisner, "The Theater's Best Kept Secret." However, with this program, I've just learned: the secret is out!

"The Sanford Meisner Master Class," is astounding in its power to not only convey Mr. Meisner's genius for teaching the craft of acting, but as a student participant in this Master Class it is like witnessing the re-incarnation of a most important figure in my life, and of the 20th Century. It is like the great Sanford Meisner has come back to life, and with his teaching powers fully intact.

Though it has been years since I left the acting profession, and a few years since I also stopped teaching The Meisner Technique, Mr. Meisner's influence on all of my adult work has been profound. His most important influence on me, which this documentary expresses so eloquently, is perhaps Mr. Meisner's most precious gift: his uncompromising devotion to helping students develop their own "sense of truth." This 8 hour documentary shows how Mr. Meisner shared his gift of such a highly developed "sense of truth" as a standard for his students to strive toward attaining. He is the perfect model and embodiment of "a sense of truth."

"A sense of truth," that in the art of theater plays out from present moment-to-unanticipated-moment, between human beings, under the imaginary circumstances of a writer's work. And thus, provides humankind with a model for authentic, meaningful, and truthful human relationship.

Did I say, that Mr. Meisner's great contribution that exists in every frame of this 8 hour documentary is the cultivation and great value for a "sense of truth?"

:)

If you care about any of these things: the model of a magnificent teacher; the great value of learning by trial and error; creating an environment where students feel freedom to fail while striving to achieve excellence measured by the highest artistic standards; theater; the craft of acting; a "sense of truth"; seeing genius at work; a model for authentic human relationship, you will enjoy this program immensely and learn a great deal.

In a world so consumed with the artificial, it is no wonder that the legacy of this most genuine of teachers and his approach to art endures so. Right now, as I view it, this program serves as a potent reality check for me.

"Sanford Meisner Master Class" is a great credit to the vision of Mr. Kent Paul, Mr. Jimmy Carville, and the people at Open Road Films for creating, preserving and sharing this extraordinary work with the world.

If you've ever wondered what all the "brouhaha" is about "The Meisner Technique" . . . behold. This is like watching Piccaso paint.

Word.
José Angel Santana, PhD
Founder/Youand:The Art of Mutual Understanading

"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another."
-- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

Definately A DVD To Own
Sandford Meisner was the quintessential actor's actor. He lived what he taught. Personally, as a Meisner student I have dreamed of being able to study with the "man". My dreams were realized with this video release. It was shot during a master class over a period of months by one of Sanford Meisner's former students, Sydney Pollock. This archive of Meisner was created as a way of preserving who Sandy Meisner was so that the rest of the world could understand and appreciate him for the genius that he was. There is atleast one of Sandy Meisner's students that many may recognize. Of course, I'm speaking of Matt McCoy. He has had some success in film and television, albeit modest. Anyway, if you are a Meisner student, or aspire to be an actor then, by all means buy this video. It is eight hours of pure Meisner at his best. You will develop a greater appreciation for the man responsible for "living truthfully on stage" and in life.

Review from The Mirror Up To Nature by Tee Quillin
[...]
My Advice: Go buy it right now.

"Acting is the ability to live truthfully under the given imaginary circumstances." - Sanford Meisner

The name Sanford Meisner has become iconic in the world of Acting. He co-founded the Group Theatre in 1931 along with other theatrical heavyweights as Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg. The Group Theatre was established, in part, to bring the teachings of Stanislavsky's "Method" of Acting Training to America. Not long after the Group was founded, Meisner branched off and began work on his own acting technique and history was made. His list of celebrity alumni reads like a Who's Who of Hollywood. Thankfully, in 1980, a group of his alumni got together to record his teachings for posterity. They simply could not allow Mr. Meisner to pass away without capturing his method and teaching style on video.

This DVD represents the first time this video recording has been made available to the general public. It consists of nearly 8 hours of training with Meisner and a small group of students in one of his classes across two DVDs and it is nothing short of magic. The viewer should be aware however, that the audio and video quality is not up to today's standards. To make matters worse, Mr. Meisner himself is shown here after having gone through three surgeries to circumvent cancer and after having to re-teach himself how to speak. The beauty of this is that he becomes a living representation of one of his own maxims: "An ounce of behavior is worth a pound of words." Still, without the provided subtitles, he would be nearly unintelligible on this recording. Adapting your ears to Mr. Meisner does not take long and you quickly understand that it's well worth the effort. In order to facilitate this training for the viewer, the original recording of 1980 contains commentary with Martin Barter (Artistic Director of the Meisner Center and acting instructor). Anywhere its needed, Mr. Barter interjects his comments and explanations of Mr. Meisner's theories and exercises. This commentary is invaluable.

There are no "special features" on this two disc set. Normally, that would be a huge sticking point for me. I'm a sucker for good bonus material on DVDs. However, on this set, not one ounce of the space of the DVDs is wasted. The primary content is all that matters in this set. The mere fact that these lessons have been captured are paramount to any other material that could have been added. Really, what bonus material would be worthy of this DVD? Interviews with some of his alumni would be pointless (and just cost money) because the video of the training literally speaks for itself. Any other information about the Sanford Meisner Center can be found by visiting the website which is listed on the outside of the DVD case. All it takes is a bit of effort to type the address into your web browser. They didn't even waste time providing you with a scene access menu. There is one item on the main menu page of each disc and that's to start the video. You do have the ability to track through the chapters of the disc, which is good given that most people probably won't have time to sit down and watch all 8 hours (or even in two 4 hour chunks) at once!

Anyone pursuing acting training should own this DVD and watch it often. The DVD will never replace acting training in a studio with an instructor and scene partners, but by observing, a serious actor will be able to see these "traps" that are always lurking in their path towards mastery of their craft. After all, one can not overcome those traps without first being aware of them.