Customer Reviews

The Sanford Meisner Approach: An Actors Workbook (A Career Development Book)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Speaking as another graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse who actually studied with Sandy (as well as continuing to study with him in his private class after graduation), I had some reservations about Larry Silverberg's book. Acting is experiential, not intellectual. Larry Silverberg implies that Sandy's technique can be learned from a book and practiced by amateurs. That was never Sandy's intention. Learning the Meisner Technique is an organic process that requires the guidance of a trained teacher. Preferably, this should be someone whom Sandy actually trained as an actor and as a teacher.

The problem with expressing "the reality of the doing" in writing seems almost self defeating. To put it bluntly, you've got to do the work. Sandy once said, "You know those books, AN ACTOR PREPARES and ACTING: THE FIRST SIX LESSONS? Tell you what, you learn to act and then read those books to see if they knew how to act." Read Larry Silverberg's book and SANFORD MEISNER ON ACTING to see if this is the Meisner Technique seems to suit you. Then you will need to make the commitment to study and learn first hand. Be warned, it requires talent and hard work.

The vital issue is to acquire a viable technique to be able to work on a professional level. Sandy's technique is time proven, providing you learn from the right teacher. Above all, Sandy knew that acting can be painful at times and the actor's life is a hard one. However, he wanted acting to be a healthy process. "Acting is fun," he used to say, "don't let that get around." It becomes fun when you begin to know what you're doing.

Just remember, that reading about the process is not the same thing as doing the work itself.

For the record, Sandy Meisner was the greatest teacher of any subject that I ever encountered in my life. He was truly one of a kind.

Any study of the craft of acting will invariably lead you back to Stanislavski. The big three acting teachers (Meisner, Adler and Strasberg) were all attempting to make the grandfather of naturalistic acting accessible to the American actor, and by extension, the American theatre. The difficulty in Stanislavski's books (An Actor Prepares, Building a Character & Creating a Role) is that they are written from the first person perspective or they present what is essentially a transcript of the classroom. Similarly, "Sanford Meisner on Acting" by Sanford Meisner and Dennis Longwell takes a similar approach. Even in the Sanford Meisner Master Class DVD, the format is one very much like a documentary with some great commentary from Mary Barter. In all of the above texts one must infer the objectives and process to Sandy's exercises. Meisner evolved Stanislavski's principles. Silverberg has broken them down with precision and made them accessible. It is not a book one reads "to know" how to act. It is a workbook where one must "do" the exercises. When one does them with a partner (and hopefully with a teacher to guide them) they have a palpable result and give the actor a technique (an organic habit) that they no longer think aout but do instinctually. Thank you, Larry, for sharing Sandy's life work with the rest of the world.

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.

This first book and the series that follows is simply focused on the practical steps of DOING, for a technique that is both rigorous and progresses very specifically by steps, by doing. It is true a student who simply reads this book or any of the others by Silverberg, who only reads and doesn't trust the practice, will get very little from just the reading - in fact may develop misconceptions because the book is intentionally a WORK book - the learning that comes from the work is what Silverberg understands deeply and has given to actors, teachers, students for many years, and with Meisner's permission. I know a group of highly committed professionals in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who are using these books (with one of Larry Silverberg's students guiding their practice) - a group of young strong actors who do not care about the acolyte battles around who "owns" or "knows" Meisner's technique - they care about doing the work as carefully and fully as Silverberg details it. And they have learned greatly and are grateful for their experience. This book and the rest of the series open doors to a practice, to experiencing that practice, for many who do not have access to a Meisner "veteran." I've watched Larry Silverberg teach - his books are an honest expression of long experience in teaching this technique, in his acting and directing (making use of the technique). I recommend these books, but only to those who are committed to the work ahead, to the doing. I do not recommend this book to anyone looking to secure their own biases.

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!

This book is a required book for the Acting class that I am currently taking. It is literally a workbook for the exercises that we practice in class. The book is fairly concise and contains the 15 sessions practiced in the Sanford Meisner method. The author provides a brief description of what the method entails but mostly outline the exercises in detail. If you are looking for a book to help you learn more about the acting method from a theoretical point of view, this is NOT the book for you. You should go with Sanford Meisner on Acting or other method acting books. This book is solely for the exercises within the method. Those exercises require at least two participants (with the third as observer as necessary) so you will not be able to practice the methods without a partner.

Because of the fact above, I only gave the book 4 stars rather than 5 stars because i think the author should have spent a little more time in describing the method prior to starting with the exercises. I think it would help not only students in a classroom setting but also general students of acting if more description is provided.

I am a student at a very reputable Meisner based school where Meisner actually taught and being in the first few months of my training I looked for material to supplement my understanding of the process.

Reading Meisner's book (which if you did you would clearly see why this type of book would never have been approved by Sandy) I've realized two things:

1 - Sandy said himself teaching acting is very individualistic, no two people need the same guidance and while all his students do the same exercises it is even clear in his book that he gives different students different instructions. No two students can approach the work the same with the same results.

2 - Sandy says himself as well to BEWARE of people who try to dish out his method, there are many people trying to sell his work with his name on it but it is NOT his work. this book is one of them, while a lot of it is similar, this is never how the work was meant to be done.

This book would lead you to believe that meisner's work could be done like a self-guided DIY program. IMPOSSIBLE. The work takes TIME, GUIDANCE, and a MASTER to teach. sandy says it takes 20 years to learn how to act, yet you're going to teach yourself just by reading some instructions??

This work is a lot about self-exploration and trial and error and an ENVIRONMENT of people who KNOW what their doing.

The best book you could get about Meisner or Meisner based approach is one that chronicles the work of a class actually doing it. sandy understood this and thts EXACTLY why his book is written the way it is, NOT LIKE THIS.

the Actor's Art and Craft by William Esper is another similar book that is good for REFERENCE ONLY, like auditing a class, being a part of others' experiences with the technique to see what it can teach you.

I bought this book and was disgusted so much I returned it the very next day.

DO NOT BE LEAD TO BELIEVE YOU CAN LEARN THIS STUFF FROM A BOOK, ENROLL IN A REPUTABLE PROGRAM AND THEN TAKE A LOOK AT THIS BOOK AND YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY SEE WHY IT'S NONSENSE.

Do you think a person could learn ballet from reading how to do it in a book? NO. And neither can a person learn to act that way.

I am a young student but I feel so passionately to share this review for other young students who are looking for guidance with this technique.

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.

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!

Larry Silverberg's Meisner Approach workbooks are wonderful texts on an incredible acting technique. Silverberg is clear, concise and generous. Reading these books, you feel as if you are sitting in class with a master teacher. Every serious student of acting should own these books!