Customer Reviews

The Sanford Meisner Approach: Workbook Three, Tackling the Text (Career Development Series)

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Actors and students everywhere: put down the imaginary coffee cup and GO somewhere TODAY and learn the Meisner Technique. If you do, you'll be better than the competition. Period.

If you can't find a Meisner class in your area, or even if you can, GET LARRY SILVERBERG's "THE SANFORD MEISNER APPROACH" books. There are four books in the series. BUY THEM ALL. And they're workbooks, so work 'em. Then, hide 'em from all but your actor friends who respect the craft and deserve to work. Remember us little people when you hit the big time.

One warning: rely on Meisner in your work, but don't talk about it. The premises of the technique aren't widely known, so the way we talk confuses people, even though what we DO is very straighforward. And be smart: keep some excuses handy for when the cast wants to play "trust games," or they want to sing the lines of Othello to "keep it fresh." Just quietly use what you know - the end result is worth it. Good luck and God bless your career!!

No one can blame Larry Silverberg for putting together a marketing campaign that include words/phrases like REVOLUTIONARY, LIFE CHANGING, ASTOUNDING, TRANSFORMATIVE, FOREMOST EXPERT, RENOWNED, and so on. It's marketing and he does it well. He wants to sell his books and make a living. His book reviews are from non experts in the technique yet Silverberg's marketing proclaims their praise from rooftops. I guess I'm from a different age when people just did their teaching work without hiring someone to tell the world how great they were at teaching for in all that marketing hype the truth does get lost. In addition I'm from an age where people viewed and understood the work quite differently from the way others, most certainly the reviewers here, seem to understand the work now. The humility is missing. Strasberg, Adler, Uta Hagen, Meisner, and the many other unnamed teachers at professional programs at Universities across the country 20, 30 and more so years ago, no one, no one told you how good they were going to make you, how free, how expressive, more human, and so on and so on. These teachers held up ideals to strive for, ideals that served the art of acting. Ideals for which it was made clear that you the actor would spend your whole life striving for. These dedicated teachers many of whom I knew began to bemoan the lack of discipline and lack of dedication . . . the simple lack of time that an individual (their students) would be willing to put into the task of working on their art. An extreme example on youtube is of Stella Adler "loosing it" really, about giving your whole life to your art and the suffering it requires. But the point remains. I think Mr. Silverberg's books are an example of the growing loss of serious training for the actor and a growing market for quick fixes, answers to questions that really have no answer you can put in print, and what none of these cheerleaders of Mr. Silverberg seem to grasp as important to the teaching of their OWN students. Mr. Silverberg was never trained to teach by Meisner. Not an insurmountable obstacle. But for those people who think they're getting what Meisner taught, even in the poor substitute for Meisner's classroom that Silverberg's printed language tries to provide, these books will disappoint because they are simply wrong in what they convey when he tells you this is The Sanford Meisner Approach. What the books are is Mr. Silverberg's take on his time as a student of Meisner's at the Playhouse. And he has every right to do that. But, But (and this goes to the HYPE) when he constantly aligns himself with Meisner, for example when he mentions all of the fine actors in a list by name after name as if you're getting the same training in this book as they got, it is Simply Wrong and forgive me for being blunt, but UNTRUE. This whole series of books would be no issue for me but for the fact that there are actually teachers at universities and colleges that use them in their classrooms which I think is a real shame and should be cause for concern for those department heads and the students that study there. One principle of education is the trust we give to our educators. These instructors who teach from these books, I believe, have violated that trust. They are working from a so called workbook that Meisner had nothing to do so it lacks credibility on that point, so what exactly is being taught is the question. Meisner didn't review these books or authorize them as a representation of his work. Is this point lost on people. I know that the marketing hype is some places tells you that Meisner arranged with Silverberg to get this work down before Meisner's death but there are no facts to support this. None. But PT Barnum said "there is a sucker born every minute" or something like that. However I guess we are in an age that has to dumb down the difficult and nearly impossible and strive to explain even the mystery of acting.

I have been a professional actor for 30 years. About fifteen years ago I was verylucky. I picked up Larry Siverberg's first book on the Sanford Meisner approach. It changed my life as an actor, and as a teacher. I know of no finer book on acting, and I have read a lot of them. It is the clearest, the most step by step, and the most inspirational book on true acting that has ever been written. This also holds for the other three books in his series. Did reading his book make me a better actor over night? Of course not. And Larry Silverberg never said that it would. Let me repeat that - he never said that it would! So what did it do? It opened a path that I could begin to follow - a long and very difficult path, but a wonderous and life changing journey. It showed me where my training was lacking, and what real actor training could be. It inspired me and gave me a map to use to begin exploring with fellow actors the craft of acting. And it lead me to seek out new teachers. I am a better actor because of this book.
I have used Larry Silverber's books in many university acting and directing classes. When I started using his first volume, teaching became fun and exciting again. I have seen his approach work with so many students, and it is miraculous. I can not recomend his books highly enough as either an introduction to what true acting can be, or as the beginning of a wonderful journey.

I have a MFA in acting from the University of Central Florida, and I teach acting at Christian Brothers University in Memphis Tennessee. I studied with Larry Silverberg for two summers. He is as remarkable a teacher as he is a writer. Even though one might think it is extremely difficult to explain the Meisner technique in a book, Larry has accomplished that. Like many, I believe you need to study acting in a class to learn the craft, but these series of books are a rare exception. Not only do they teach the technique using a step by step process which allows the actor to really understand what s/he is doing, but they reveal the essence of the Meisner approach which is to specify a role until it has ULTIMATE MEANING for YOU!

Also, if you didn't know by now from reading the other reviews,"Meisner gave Larry and Smith & Kraus" written permission to publish these books.

I have personally worked with Larry Silverberg, and before that used his books both to learn and teach the Meisner Technique. I have an MFA in Acting, work professionally as an actress, and teach acting as well, and I have tried many approaches to acting, only to keep coming back to Larry's workbooks. These books are clear, succinct, and incredibly easy to work with, and they include many examples for clarification. Larry is the most nurturing acting teacher, and I cannot recommend him highly enough.

As both a professional actor and an acting instructor I cannot recommend Larry's "The Sanford Meisner Approach Workbook" series highly enough. Having studied and applied the Meisner technique as an actor for 14 years and having taught it now for 4 I find Larry's series to be the most straightforward and accessible breakdown of Sandy's technique. I teach acting in the BFA program at Central Washington University in Ellensburg WA and we currently offer a total of 50 weeks of Meisner training over a two year period. Larry's "Workbook One" is one of the required texts in the first year and the remaining three books in the series are required in the second year. I, and my students, have found that their experience is enhanced by reading the chapters, or sessions, in the book that correspond to the work we are doing in class. I have seen their connection to their others, their art, their community and themselves strengthen and deepen as we work on this technique and the exercises together. As an actor and/or an acting teacher you cannot go wrong with The Meisner Technique and you cannot go wrong with Larry Silverberg's "The Sanford Meisner Approach" series. I highly recommend it!

Silverberg's Meisner workbook series is a jewel for acting teachers and students alike! Filled with a step-by-step approach and essential exercises that allow actors to genuinely understand what it means to "live truthfully under imaginary circumstances" onstage, Silverberg's books are direct and practical, yet also astoundingly inspirational. As a university acting professor, the artistic growth that I have witnessed in my students as a result of this material is phenomenal. Do yourself a favor and read this series. I cannot recommend this work highly enough!

It had me staring at the stars out of my window at night, listening to the crickets, and wondering, "what in the world am I doing with my life?"