Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Meisner(d)

First off I apologize for my lack of blogging.  Being back in the strange and mysterious land of Thousand Oaks has taken a wee more time adjusting, to get back into the swing of things, than I anticipated.  But I digress, and here I appear once again.

As a student and enthusiastic learner in general, I absolutely adore most all of my classes this semester-with the exception of Geology of course, what would an aspiring journalist/actor need that for?  One class in particular that is having an immense impact on me is Meisner.  Ironically, the class that has had the most impact is worth the least amount of credits (none at all).  But that right there shows just how appealing this experience is.  Every Friday for three hours about 20 or so actors congregate to listen and learn and awe at everything our professor, Markus Flanagan, has to say.

Markus is such a fascinating human-err, excuse me, God.  Markus knows everything, it even says so on his resume, don't believe me Google him.  Sure, he may have been born with this gift of all-knowing wisdom, but most likely he picked it up from Mr. Meisner himself (Markus' teacher of the technique back in the day).

Meisner deals with the concept of repetition.  Without giving everything away, basically repetition is a process in which two people start out repeating petty words to each other based off of convenient observations.  The point is to match the sound of the person and to explore the word for something never recognized in a single word before. The next step involves diving into the person's soul, exploring them as a person and the meaning behind the words they present to you, all while repeating.  After that, it becomes about listening to every tinge in your partner's voice, picking up on subtle cues about their person...that's about where I'm at.  I don't fully and completely understand the big picture, but that in itself is so thrilling to me.  Every class I feel I experience an epiphany, only to have that epiphany be morphed into something new by the next.

This class, this concept, this way of life, or cult has slowly begun to take over the theatre department at the school I attend.  The 20 or so in the class are obsessed (and rightly so-it's truly fascinating) and the remaining participants in the department, I assume, are sick of hearing about it.  Whenever we can repeat, we do it, no matter campus placement, no matter the people present.

I'm terribly excited for this phenomenon.  I feel extremely fortunate to have stumbled into this technique and I simply cannot wait to learn more, gobble up more Meisner.  I'm in love, I'm obsessed, I'm in a cult.

Until the next unanticipated moment,
Kelsey Jean

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