The truth about Meisner history: our interview with Jim Jarrett

In this episode I interview Jim Jarrett from ‪@TheMeisnerTechniqueStudio‬ about the Meisner technique, Sanford Meisner's history, the politics involved in schools marketing and how to go about teaching this approach.
🎟️ Get on the waiting list for Jim Jarrett's play "Meisner" : links.parismeisner.studio/jim...
🔗 The Meisner technique Studio :
themeisnertechniquestudio.com/
🎥 Kyla Jarrett & Katia Crivellari
0:00 Introduction
0:38 The Meisner Technique Studio
2:05 Sanford Meisner & Jim Jarrett
2:50 Length of the curriculum
3:45 Rehearsing outside of class
5:40 Requirements to get accepted
9:50 Rehearsing outside of class 2 & being independant
12:00 Repetition exercise & full technique
15:25 Bill Esper & adapting a diluted technique
16:22 Proliferation of teachers
23:03 Meisner schools politics
28:56 Legitimate schools & De Tree A Wee
29:28 Paris Meisner Studio
30:12 William Alderson Acting Studio
30:23 Playhouse West
32:30 Sanford Meisner history
32:55 James Carville
35:00 James Carville Sanford Meisner School of Acting
36:00 The Sanford Meisner Center
36:44 Martin Barter
37:20 Alex Taylor
37:48 Scott Trost
38:20 De Tree A Wee
38:45 The Meisner Institute
39:24 Jim Jarrett's play "Meisner"
51:48 What is the Meisner technique ?
52:35 Method Acting
54:15 The genesis of the technique - The dangers of Method Acting
56:32 The genesis of the technique 2 - Actors not listening and being in their heads
59:32 Denis Longwell's book - Sanford Meisner "On Acting"
1:00:15 Can you teach the Meisner technique in a book or online ?
1:02:57 Larry Silverberg & books
1:06:22 Nick Moseley "Meisner in Practice"
1:07:23 Can you teach the technique in an intensive workshop ?
1:09:08 How can you train to be a teacher ?
1:11:14 Sanford Meisner's standards
1:14:05 Historical dates
1:15:25 Pure Meisner or adapting the technique
1:19:02 Sticking points of the Meisner technique ?
1:23:23 Jack Waltzer
1:25:50 Is the Meisner technique life changing ?
1:30:54 Can anyone learn the Meisner technique ?
1:32:48 How to join Jim Jarrett's class ?
1:40:26 Useful links
🤫 Our secret Telegram channel : parismeisner.studio/en/telegram/
(Discover our research behind the scenes, our tools and secrets techniques)
🔑 Private coaching : links.parismeisner.studio/pri...
💬 Join us on Discord : / discord
WHO AM I
🤓 I'm Octave, a former cognitive science student and musician living in Paris. I got back into acting to improve my stage performance when I was singing at Open Mics, and ended up creating an acting school around my research (Paris Meisner Studio). I also studied different approaches of therapy and coaching, especially NLP and ericksonian hypnosis in which I am fully certified, and now in a long Gestalt therapy training. I got into film production firstly to document the work we were doing at the school and to produce students scenes. I have now just produced and co-directed our first short movie which will be out in the summer 2022. I do photography as a hobby and to practice composition and colour correction.
PARIS MEISNER STUDIO
🏫 This is our acting school & research center in Paris. I developed it over the years, at first in order to train for free, and fly acting teachers (Meisner technique in particular) from all over the world to bring quality training where we were. It now hosts an original research program called "Meisner & systemic coaching" that mixes Meisner approaches and other acting techniques with tools from therapy, coaching, meditation, and scriptwriting and production principles.
- www.parismeisnerstudio.fr
🍿 We also have a CZcams Channel, mostly in French, and for the work we do in Paris specifically : students work, behind the scenes... We will be happy to have you as a subscriber.
- / @parismeisnerstudio
PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE
📸 This is where I upload some of the pictures I take to practice using the cameras I buy to document the work we do at Paris Meisner Studio for this channel.
- octavekaralievitch.com
INSTAGRAM
🇺🇸 @playgroundschannel - / playgroundschannel
🇫🇷 @parismeisnerstudio - / parismeisnerstudio
🤓 @octavekaralievitch - / octavekaralievitch
🌍 Websites / blogs
- www.parismeisner.studio/en
- octavekaralievitch.com
🐦 Twitter (where I talk mostly about productivity & PKM)
- / karalievitch
🍿 CZcams Channel for Paris Meisner Studio
- / @parismeisnerstudio
MY FAVOURITE GEAR
🎥 Mirrorless camera for film and photography : amzn.to/3YEpEwP
🔐 The phone-addict safe for Deep Work : amzn.to/3Wie8FG
🔦 Day-light on demand : amzn.to/3FOETKO
🎙 The wireless auto-charging mics : amzn.to/3hJcm1w
PS : some of those links are affiliate links which I can get a kickback from 😋

[@SalvadorRiosJr]

Thank you so much for this interview and putting it out for all to see. I ESPECIALLY appreciate that you had a backup camera recording and that you weren’t afraid to use it for your edit! You’re a true professional! 1:09:47

[@danielluntadi]

Très instructif, merci.

[@PlayGroundsChannel]

avec plaisir 🤓

[@EvanStark1994]

Hey! That's my teacher :)

[@sovietninja6865]

Great video! I do think it’s okay for a technique to be developed over time. There is nothing wrong with that. That’s exactly what happened with the Stanislavski system into Adler, Strasberg, Hagen, and the Meisner technique. If a teaching is stagnant it could be a problem. I don’t know who he is throwing shade at about a falling out with a certain teacher. I believe he is talking about Bill Esper and bill just added to the technique. That’s why he has so many successful students. Bill also didn’t change much from the teachings at all. So if it’s not Bill Esper I have no clue who he is talking about.
.

[@dirt420]

fun topic

[@MathewBall]

Great interview and video. The only thing I'm afraid I have to disagree with is what the interviewer said. Involving martial arts, "You learn the exact same thing going from one teacher to the next." This isn't true, acting and martial arts are very similar. Whenever you're learning anything like acting, music, or martial arts. It can be the same if you go to someone else who teaches the same technique, obviously! Nonetheless, there are many different teachers, styles, and techniques to learn from. You need to find the right one that suits you. The worst teacher/trainer in any industry is the cookie-cutter trainers. Or like Jim said, teachers who parrot their version and every time that style gets passed on without following it directly from the source. It ends up getting diluted and weaker every time!

[@PlayGroundsChannel]

Thanks Matthew! Glad you liked it. Yes, techniques end up diluted when protocoles aren't clear or proper training and certifications are not in place to make sure that a field is properly taught. Everyone can change a technique and make it their own and that is fine, or create new ones and mix a few. But when I started discovering the "Meisner technique" I trained with different teachers who were speaking "different languages", as Jim says. To the point that they were giving contradictory advise and rewarding completely different types of behaviours, and all calling it "Meisner". And they did so because of ignorance, not because the technique itself couldn't be properly laid out or because it was so subjective that it didn't have a clear curriculum, with clear exercises with specific names and functions at each step. Martial arts, or therapy techniques, which also deal with unique human beings, their experiences and emotions, have developed clear protocoles and have specific structures and history. Every practitioner is different but there is some basic clarity for each approach instead of esoteric discussions about "letting go", or "being yourself", or "being free". One person can be trained in Gestalt, ericksonian hypnosis, and NLP, and another one in cognitive behavioural therapy and EMDR. They can mix things, but they have proper trainings for each tool. Otherwise you'll have no idea what you're in for as a student or customer. I meant to highlight the discrepancy between the seriousness that is required in other fields, and the casualness with which so many "acting teachers" research and train at their craft and approaches. The whole point of this channel is to clarify what techniques are, how they work, and where they come from. Hope it makes more sense.

[@griffandrews3434]

*PromoSM* 🙌