Foote Horton - The Sanford Meisner approach. Workbook one, An actors workbook

The
Sanford Meisner
Approach

AN ACTORS WORKBOOK

The
Sanford Meisner
Approach

AN ACTORS WORKBOOK

Larry Silverberg

A Career Development Book

SK

A Smith and Kraus Book

A Smith and Kraus Book

Published by Smith and Kraus, Inc.

177 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755

www.smithandkraus.com

Copyright 1994 by Larry Silverberg

All rights reserved.

CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that the material represented in this book is subject to a royalty. It is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America, and of all countries covered by the International Copyright Union (including the Dominion of Canada and the rest of the British Commonwealth), and of all countries covered by the Pan-American Copyright Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention, and of all countries with which the United States has reciprocal copyright relations. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound taping, all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproductions such as information storage and retrieval systems and photocopying, and the rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved. All inquiries should be addressed to Smith and Kraus, Inc.

THE BIG FUNK by John Patrick Shanley. Copyright 1991, by John Patrick Shanley. CAUTION: The reprinting of THE BIG FUNK BY JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY included in this volume is reprinted by permission of the author and Dramatists Play Service, Inc. The stage performance rights (other than first-class rights) are controlled exclusively by Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 440 Park Ave. South, New York, NY 10016. No professional or nonprofessional performance of the play (excluding first-class professional performance) may be given without obtaining in advance the written permission of Dramatists Play Service, Inc., and paying the requisite fee.

THE EMPTY SPACE by Peter Brooks. Copyright 1968 by Peter Brooks. Originally published by Macmillan Publishing Company. For further information, contact Macmillan Publishing Company, Simon & Schuster, 866 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022-0299.

THE TAO OF LEADERSHIP by John Heider. Copyright 1985 by Humanics Limited, Atlanta Georgia, USA. Reprinted with permission from John Heider. For further information, contact Humanics Publishing Group, 1482 Mescalin St., NW, Atlanta, GA 30309.

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition: November 1994

6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Silverberg, Larry, 1959

The Sanford Meisner approach: an actors workbook / by Larry Silverberg.

p. cm. -- (A career development book)

ISBN-10 1-880399-77-6 ISBN-13: 978-1-880399-77-4: $14.95

1. Acting. 2. Meisner, Sanford. I. Title. II. Series.

PN2061.S55 1994

792.028--dc20

94-38079

CIP

For Jill

Biography

LARRY SILVERBERG, author of the four-volume series The Sanford Meisner Approach: An Actors Workbook, the two-volume series The Actors Guide to Qualified Acting Coaches, and Loving to Audition, is a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre where he studied with master acting teacher Sanford Meisner. Since then he has worked professionally as an actor and director across the United States and in Canada. Most recently, Larry received the Seattle Critics Association Stellar Acting Award for his portrayal of Teach in the Belltown Theatre Center production of David Mamets American Buffalo.

Larry also teaches his professional intensive: the Meisner Actors Training Program in New York City, and he has taught master classes in the Meisner work at universities, high school, and acting studios in many parts of the world. If you are interested in studying with Larry or having him teach his visiting workshops at your school, please contact him by telephone at (212) 462-3005 or write to him care of Smith and Kraus Publishers, PO Box 127, Lyme, NH 03768. Read more about Larry or contact him via his website address at www.actorscraft.com.

Acknowledgments

Part I

First, thank you to my three greatest partners and wisest teachers, my wife Jill and our children Sarah and Aaron. You make it all worth it. All of it!

To Sanford Meisner, thank you Sandy for all the continually unfolding miracles that your work and working with you have made possible in my life. And for the moments of beauty given to all of us by the work of all your extraordinary students.

To my friend, Horton Foote, has been a most generous ally in every aspect of my life. He has gone to great lengths to assist me in some very difficult times, and he was an enthusiastic partner in helping me make this book a reality. I have learned so much about what is of most importance in life, about simplicity, compassion, and forgiveness, from Horton. I am deeply grateful to him. Thank you Horton!

To Sheila and Bernie Silverberg (Mom and Dad!) and all of my family in Florida, and to Helen and Skip Rooney, thank you all for your unwavering support. For her own very special and unceasing presence in my life and work, I am forever grateful to my Grandma Ethel, (Thanks Grandma!) Thank you, my dear, loving, Edith Stein, Mother Michael and all of the nuns at St. Josephs Carmelite Monastery in Seattle, WA.

Thanks to my oldest and greatest friend (we go back to third grade together!), Dick Kowal, who is always cheering me on and giving me good, solid advice when Im getting carried away. If we were older and British, Dick and I would have been the Beatles.

I also want to thank my wonderful acting teacher, Suzanne Shepherd, and all of my teachers at the Neighborhood Playhouse. My deep appreciation to James Price for his generosity and support through the years. Thanks also to Harold Baldridge, Jim Carville, Connie Clausen, Robbie Burns, Richard Janaro, Jorge Guerra, Ellen Davis and all of my friends at the New World School of the Arts in Miami. Much appreciation to Dannul and Tinka Dailey, Robin Smith and George Lewis here in Seattle and to the illuminating Arthur Giron.

Thank you to my publishers, Marisa Smith and the wonderfully calm Eric Kraus, and to all of the great staff at Smith and Kraus.

There certainly would be no book were it not for the deeply committed and courageous students I have worked with all around the country. I am grateful to all of you! I especially thank my students who are struggling to bring to life their company Tenderfoote at my theater, the Belltown Theatre Center here in Seattle, Washington.

Part II
Stewart Stern

My immediate impulse, whenever I have to write somethingespecially something importantis to call Stewart Stern to rescue me. And he has! I have sat with Stewart countless times, howling out all of my thoughts and feelings in the most inarticulate way. Then, very quietly, Stewart will turn to me and ask, Is this what you are saying? And, as if he were a secret visitor in my dreams, out of his mouth come the most vivid images and sounds, a heightened poetic life expressing everything that my heart had been whispering to me in my most private moments. So here I am again, wishing desperately that I could run to Stewart and ask him to help me express, in words, how much he means to me and how deep an impact he has had on my life!

Although Stewart is mostly known as one of the greatest screenwriters of our time and for the extraordinary films he helped create (Rebel without a Cause, Rachel Rachel, Sybil, The Ugly American, Summer Wishes Winter Dreams, and others), I want you to know about some of his other gifts.

Stewart is the most interested person who ever walked this planet. He is absolutely and in every moment fascinated. By everyone and everything! And though he has a wealth of wisdom about life and reality, his face is always beaming with that joyful glow of the excited beginner who is discovering for the first time.