The Maggie Flanigan Studio provides acting programs and professional actor training based on the life work of Sanford Meisner. In this interview, Jamie Butler talks about how she has changed during the two-year program and the unexpected hurdles she faced while in the actor training program.
Q: Jamie, you started with the Meisner summer intensive, you’re here now for the two-year program here in your second year, at the beginning of the second year. What unexpected hurdles have come up for you while you’ve been at the studio?
A: Unexpected hurdles are managing time, managing school, managing work. It was unexpected but you overcome it. You think about, “What can I do to maneuver my schedule and maneuver my life so that the priorities are first and that I am doing well in each area of my life.” That was a hurdle but once I got over that hurdle, I was able to manage it and balance it.
Another unexpected hurdle just being open with the work. Stripping yourself and seeing things that come up in you that you think you’ve suppressed or that you think are not there but they’re still there. That has been a hurdle because often times we close our self off and we don’t want things to hurt us but here it allowed me to open it myself, take things in, process them.
In the process, learn from the other person and also be a stronger person myself. That was an unexpected hurdle, just learning new things about yourself. Learning new things that you didn’t think were there. It’s a hurdle because sometimes you shy away from it or it doesn’t feel good, but in the end, in the process, you realize that it’s making you a better person and it’s beneficial, it’s truly beneficial.
Q: How have you changed unexpectedly as an actor?
From the actor, you were before you walked in for the summer intensive all the way to now beginning of the second year just starting to work on nursery rhymes, on rivers, your first scene.
A: I’ve changed as an actor since I first started. I know that I’ve become more professional. I’ve become more professional. I hold myself more accountable. I’m more open. My mind is open. I’m not afraid to fail. I’m not afraid to take myself out of the way and go for what I want. I’ve changed as an actor in the way I see the world.
Now I understand and know that with this training I can take on roles and really know what they mean and really illuminate someone else’s life. I didn’t really have that revelation or understanding before I started training here. If you can do that, you can really bring something to life.
Q: A lot of people when they come to the studio they start with or they, for financial reasons or time reasons or their own personal reasons, just want to do acting. That’s all they can do, that’s all they have to do but you chose to always take movement as well. How has that helped your work in the classroom, outside of the classroom, as an actress?
A: Movement. Everybody needs to take the movement classes. Movement has opened me up. It has even opened portals in my body and my mind that were closed that I didn’t even realize were closed. It has allowed me to be a better actor because now I am able to receive from another actor or from the other actors. I’m able to receive.
Movement has helped me in just outside of the classroom. Physically, you’re stronger. Even mentally, you’re stronger. Physically, of course, you’re stronger. Movement has allowed me to soften myself. We walk around with this hard shell and hard exterior but movement has actually allowed me to have an ease with myself. You really feel good in your body.
Movement also helps you to illuminate a character because there may be a character that you have to be really fluid in and really loosen your body. If I didn’t have the movement training, I would not be able to convey a smooth and lucid, and fluid character.
Learn More About the Acting Programs and Acting Classes at the Studio
Find out more about the acting programs, the two-year program, and acting classes at the Maggie Flanigan Studio, visit the studio website or call the office during business hours at (917) 794-3878
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