This two-day intensive is designed for actors who have already built a foundation in the Meisner Technique and are ready to move into the scene study stage — where the work deepens and the craft becomes art.

This weekend will help you bring text to life through truthful behavior, emotional preparation, and active listening. You’ll discover how to use the script as a living score — not to be recited, but to be experienced.

What You Will Experience — Step by Step

1. Emotional Preparation

Before every scene, Meisner asks:

“How do you want to feel when you first come into the scene?”

“What has just happened to you?”

You’ll learn to find the emotional door that connects you personally to the scene’s circumstances, so you can enter not from your head but from your heart — fully alive, truthful, and ready to connect.

2. The First Moment

Meisner reminds us that the scene begins before the words.

You’ll practice arriving truthfully, taking in your partner, and allowing the first moment to arise organically.

This is where acting stops being planned and starts being lived.

“What’s the first thing you see?

“What’s the first thing you feel?”

3. Relationship and Given Circumstances

Here, you’ll personalize the world of the play — translating facts from the text into living truths.

You’ll learn to make these circumstances your own, grounding them in imagination and personal connection.

“Who is this person to me?”

“What do I want from them?”

“What’s the reality of the situation?”

4. Doing Truthfully

In Meisner’s view, “acting is doing.”

You’ll identify the specific, playable action your character is pursuing — not an idea or emotion, but something you can physically and emotionally do.

“What am I doing?”

“Why am I doing it?”

“What am I trying to make happen?”

5. Listening and Responding

You’ll refine the heart of Meisner’s work: living truthfully in the moment.

As you listen deeply, the script comes alive — not as lines memorized, but as impulses born from genuine contact with your partner.

You’ll experience the freedom of letting go of control and trusting the moment.

“Am I really listening?”

“Am I allowing what I hear to affect me?”

6. Working Through Conflict

Real human connection often means tension, resistance, or need.

We’ll explore how to stay truthful within conflict, allowing your instincts and the

circumstances to guide your behavior rather than forcing results.

“What do I need from this person right now?”

“What happens if I don’t get it?”

7. Integration and Performance

Finally, you’ll bring it all together: emotional preparation, doing, listening, and living

truthfully under imaginary circumstances.

Each participant will present a scene, followed by individual feedback designed to

deepen your understanding of your craft.

What You’ll Take Away

• A clear, experiential understanding of Meisner’s approach to scene work

• A personal connection to your text and partner

• Confidence in emotional preparation and spontaneity

• The ability to live fully and truthfully within the imaginary world