The Independent Activity is one of the most significant aspects of Meisner training. In this short blog post, Charlie discusses the Independent Activity and how this part of the Meisner Technique shapes the quality of the behaviors that actors create.
Meisner’s exercise, which starts with a straightforward repetition, evolves over nine months into this intense, very sophisticated improvisational exercise. It’s a partner-based exercise. The independent activity is one of Meisner’s essential things in the first year.
You’re always connected to an acting object, either the other person or what you’re doing. The whole goal of the independent activity is to start to teach you how to one, get the attention on what you’re doing, how to do truthfully, and how to craft.
Crafting is everything in acting. You will never be better than your crafting, and most don’t prepare. They craft in a very general, nonspecific non-personal way. But the quality of your work, the quality of the behavior that you’re going to create, really rests on how simple, specific, and personal you can craft.
This independent activity gets very deep and rich as the technique evolves. You’re also learning how to use your ability to daydream and fantasize and harness that to your craft. How do you give yourself a very personal previous circumstance that compels you to do what you’re doing now? This is something that you work on throughout the first year; it is the ability to do. So that side of the exercise, the independent activity, is one of the most intense and profound parts of the training.
About the Independent Activity and the Meisner Technique
Learn more about the Meisner Technique and the Independent Activity by visiting the studio website (https://www.maggieflaniganstudio.com/). In addition, actors serious about professional actor training can call the studio with questions about applying for acceptance. Call (917) 794-3878.
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