by Royce Sparks (Author)
Meisner and Mindfulness: Authentic and Truthful Solutions for the Challenges of Modern Acting
is the first book that reveals how Meisner and mindfulness can be
united to create strong results for actors and help them navigate the
challenges of the digital age.
The twenty-first
century has created an entirely new set of demands and pressures on the
working actor, including an acceleration of the digital age and the
complications of COVID-19, which have led to auditions, rehearsals, and
even whole performances happening entirely in isolation. This book
combines a modern rethinking of the Meisner technique with a
complementary set of tools from mindfulness meditation to offer profound
solutions to these growing challenges, addressing the demands of a
post-coronavirus industry as well as the pressures of acting in the
digital era. In this ground-breaking expansion of the technique, readers
will discover how it is possible to train some of the deepest values of
living truthfully under a given set of circumstances, both with other
actors and whilst alone. Since the 1950s the Meisner technique has aided
the actor in navigating the demands unique to their time. This book is a
powerful reminder that, even in the midst of so many changes and
challenges, the truthfulness that has defined outstanding performances
across generations is still within reach.
Full of easily accessible mindfulness and Meisner exercises and principles for practice-based support, Meisner and Mindfulness
will be illuminating to working actors, directors, students and
instructors of acting, and practitioners of the Meisner technique
looking to develop the authenticity, immediateness, and closeness
essential to great acting.
The book also includes
access to an online supplement featuring additional exercises and
concepts, including new ways to incorporate Meisner exercises into
training sessions, suggestions for how Meisner-oriented companies can
use exercises such as repetition in rehearsals, and discussions for how
to set up a facilitated Meisner group.
