Jim Maxwell

Thanks, but we’re not machines

The Commons editors added material to my notice of acting workshop and classes at the Hooker-Dunham Theater this fall. The description of the Meisner technique taken from the website of the Meisner Technique Studio in San Francisco contains a quote that is startling.

The quoted language is that the Meisner technique trains actors to be “fearless, authentic, moment-to-moment machines.”

Oh, boy.

I think Meisner would roll over and die again if he saw “machines” describing the aim of his work with actors. Sounds like a conveyor belt turning out cookie-cutter actors.

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