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“Method Acting” has arguably revolutionized American theater and has greatly influenced American acting technique over the past fifty years. Here are some tips for actors seeking to take method acting classes:
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It is important to know that there are many different schools of “The Method. Here is the history behind it:
It’s origins come from the Group Theatre in New York in the 1930’s. The Group Theatre (started by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, and Lee Strasberg) began a realistic style of theatre acting based on the teachings of the Russian acting teacher/director Konstantin Stanislavski. After the Group Theatre disbanded, three main schools of the “Method” came from three former members: Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, and Stella Adler.
Strasberg’s started The Actor’s Studio in the 1940’s. He stressed that actors should put their own memories/emotions into their performances to find theatrical truth for their characters. The Actor’s Studio produced some of the most prolific screen actors of the 20th century (Al Pacino, Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, Dustin Hoffman).
Meisner clearly broke from Strasberg’s emphasis on actors recalling their own emotional experiences. He taught his students to emotionally invest in the moment of the scene by understanding the scene’s circumstances. Meisner urged actors to have emotional spontaneity and to “live truthfully under imaginary circumstances”.
Adler’s school focused more on finding your own emotions through studying the character’s circumstances and discovering his or her wants/objectives. Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro are among many notable students of Adler’s school. Adler is also the only one of the three to have studied with Stanislavski himself later on in his life.
Research the schools in your area and see which “school” they are most influenced by. Read faculty bios on their websites to see if the teachers came out of a particular Method school. Many acting schools teach principles from all the Methods. The Ivana Chubbuck Studio (Los Angeles) is probably the most notable acting school for creating its own technique through including elements of all the Methods (best explained in the popular book The Power Of The Actor by Ivana Chubbuck). You can also attend the famed Actor’s Studio or The Stella Adler Studio For Acting if you are in the New York or Los Angeles area (The Sanford Meisner Center is also located in the Los Angeles area).
Have an open mind when studying all of the Methods. Find the Method you are most comfortable with and what suits you best as an actor. There have been brilliant actors to come out of every school. Do your best to study from the great minds of acting to find your own technique. You might find enlightenment in all of the Methods (like so many artists have in the past).
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