The Meisner Technique trains actors to be open and vulnerable. In this video, Charlie Sandlan discusses the importance of the “door work” exercise in removing protective barriers.
I love the Meisner Technique because each part of the exercise focuses on a particular problem and issue that actors deal with. As I talked earlier about the independent activity, the other side of the exercise is the door work. As the training unfolds, the person working at the door, knocking on the door, entering a room, or having someone come to the door and answer the door starts to teach you how to be fully present at the moment, how to listen, and how to be able to begin to respond to subtext.
How you’re treated in acting is everything. Your ability to be malleable to the nuances of another human being’s behavior separates the good actors from those just going from cue to cue. The door work puts you in contact with your partner and teaches you how to listen and take in. It’s sensitivity training, so your vulnerability, empathy, and humanity can begin to operate.
This side of the exercise is where we start to chisel away all of the walls, the barriers you’ve put up over how many decades you’ve been alive. These are the barriers that keep you safe, keep you protected, keep you from being hurt, get you through life but walls up that artist in you, that kid who’s open and playful and curious. So how do you go from a spontaneous moment to an unexpected moment? This is the work, the door work, and this side of the exercise starts to open this instrument.
Read More About the Door Work and Meisner Training
Learn more about the Door Work and other Meisner training by visiting the Maggie Flanigan studio website (https://www.maggieflaniganstudio.com/new-york-ny). Actors interested in applying and have questions about the classes or the schedule can call (917) 794-3878.
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