The Meisner Technique

Participants: This workshop is not levelled and is open to everyone
Instructor:
Hendrik Martz from Berlin, Germany
The workshop will be taught in English
Duration: 16 hours

Be aware: this is not a standard improvisation workshop.

We know that improvisation is play, discovery, surprise. Can we also use these principles to become better actors? The Meisner technique is a thorough training in listening, being with the fellow actor, and completely relying on one’s instincts. Drawing from Konstantin Stanislawski’s theory, Sanford Meisner invented a set of improvisational exercises to give actors the freedom to develop their emotional capacities onstage. At its heart is a simple maxim: “concentration away from yourself is the creative source of acting.”

In this workshop we will explore specific practices from the technique such as “repetition” and “knocks”, which provide a system guiding us to act authentically on stage. Participants will get to know the power that lies within us, if we truthfully dedicate ourselves to something or someone other than ourselves. Every theatre improviser is an actor. This workshop is a chance to nourish that part of yourself.

Workshop factors: Emotional, Sensitive content, Personal sharing, Going outside, and Atypical

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Hendrik Martz has been working as an actor since the age of nine. At 16 he starred in one of the biggest German children television series hits of the 80s, and has continued to work as an actor for over 30 years. From 1989-1991 he received his acting training from Sanford Meisner himself, whose School in N.Y. he attended, later saying that this training “saved his life” - not only as an actor, but as a human being. Based in Berlin, he is currently working as an acting coach travelling around Europe.

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