As I noted in my post last week about Sandra Peabody's career beyond acting, her approach to the craft was and remains informed by the Meisner technique. This was summed up by its originator, Sanford Meisner (1905–97) as "living truthfully under imaginary circumstances". That means an emphasis on emotional authenticity and moment-to-moment connection. Meisner himself is considered one of the greatest teachers in American acting history; Sandra's acceptance by his Neighborhood Playhouse and two years of study with him were a mark of her considerable promise as a 19-year-old Carnegie Mellon drama student.
Meisner became disenchanted with the then (and later) popular Method approach to acting. While the Meisner Technique Studio that bears his name makes a point – as Meisner himself did – of not disparaging actors who find Method works for them, it also points out that the "sense memory" approach to Method acting was limiting, and that this view was in fact shared by the famed Russian acting teacher Konstantin Stanislavski (1863–1938): Sense Memory was limiting. The Studio's website notes that:
Sandy did not believe an actor needed to experience trauma in order to play a traumatized person. He also noticed harmful habits in actors who relied on their emotional scars. To that end, he developed a new approach, centered around an actor’s imagination.
In other words, rather than drawing on real past trauma as a way of getting "inside the head" of a similar character, Meisner's technique teaches actors to develop imaginary backgrounds but to react to them in the moment as real. The psychological health benefits include the avoidance of potentially retraumatising "dredging up" of old memories from real life, and the ability to more easily "de-role" (step out of character) after a scene without lasting harm.
This combination makes Meisner's technique very useful for playing difficult emotional roles. An actor whose character is unnerved by their scene partner's character will "live authentically in the moment" and so react genuinely instead of consciously "play-acting" their responses. With cinema, where the camera's close gaze makes micro-reactions much more noticeable to viewers than they are in some other forms of acting, this makes the person's reactions believable – because, in the moment, they are real.
The Meisner teaching programme is demanding, and Meisner himself is described by emotionalpreparation.com as "a tough but passionate teacher, pushing his students to their limits but always with the intention of helping them become truthful and honest actors". Sandra would not have been able to cruise through her two years by any means.
She would have undertaken exercises like the Repetition Game (two actors repeat phrases back and forth, focusing on their partner's behavioural and emotional shifts) which "helps actors get out of their heads"; and learned the Reality of Doing: an actor who needs to cry for a scene should be feel that need naturally, without forcing or consciously pretending. Meisner's technique places the emphasis on "truth, instinct, and emotional authenticity".
For Meisner to be successful and safe, an actor requires their scene partner to be emotionally open, responsive to impulses, present and attentive and committed to listening. Since the technique requires openness and vulnerability, as well as spontaneous responses, both partners must also have complete mutual trust. This allows the emotional vulnerability that is necessary for Meisner to be safe and effective. As a professional Meisner teacher, Sandra's own assessment of her student Alicia Lagano noted her willingness "to be open and real".
Sandra has now been teaching Meisner's technique for a quarter of a century. Her earlier work as a children's television producer gave her further insights into what actors need from the outside. Children are in general naturally more open than adults, and Sandra frequently teaches young people in her acting classes. Her apprenticeship from Meisner himself, her experience as a screen actress, and the experience she later gained in production and teaching, all go together to explain her success in coaching actors like Lagano and Bret Harrison who have achieved professional acting careers.
Sandra Peabody clearly grasped Meisner's technique very, very well indeed.
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