Meisner Testimonials:
Bob
Rousseau:
"I'm
someone who started training as an actor later in life than many Freehold
students (I had a stellar career at my high school but then I didn't do
anything more about acting for a couple of decades). Because of that late start
and because I've always had to juggle classes with working full time, I've
always had to be very picky about what classes I take because my free time is
so precious to me, and my funds aren't always stable. As I got to know more
experienced actors in the Seattle community, I discovered that many of the ones
who had studied at Freehold took the Meisner progression. But when I did some
reading up on Meisner's philosophy and techniques, while they were somewhat
interesting, the books out there didn't draw me in enough to make me feel I'd
be missing much if I didn't take the class. (I'll talk more about the books
later). Since the progression at Freehold is a three semester commitment, I
wanted to be really sure that it was worth it.
What
tipped the scales for me was when I started asking people about working with
Robin specifically. You know how sometimes you ask someone about a treasured
memory and a warm glow comes over them and they seem to enjoy the memory
privately for a couple of seconds before answering? Time and again, that kept
happening when I talked to Robin's former students about her. All of them - and
I mean every single one of them - told me that working with Robin and being
able to experience her passion for this craft had a profound effect on their
growth as artists, and - some added - to their growth as human beings as well.
It became more obvious to me that if I finished taking classes at Freehold
without working with Robin, there'd be a hell of a lot I was going to miss out
on.
So
what was my over - all experience actually taking the class? Let me put it this
way: how often has something come highly recommended to you and you found out
it actually was much better than you'd heard? For all the good I'd heard about
the "Robin experience", it still fell short of the real thing.
I
should say that I think calling the class "The Meisner Progression"
isn't quite accurate: it really should be called "Meisner and A Whole
Bunch of Other Cool Shit Robin Knows". You work through a lot of the
exercises and learn the techniques that you would learn in a typical Meisner
program, but Robin also brings to the table a whole host of other tools and
exercises in areas like movement, meditation, text examination, and
preparation, so that you end up with a much meatier experience.
I
liken working with Robin to working at a gym with a personal trainer: rarely
does anyone push themselves as much as a personal trainer will push them. The
trainer's going to make you do those extra sets of push-ups and sit-ups that
you might give yourself a pass on, and while you may grouse at times, inside
you know that your muscles are getting stronger month by month. Robin pushes
you to work your imaginary muscles farther than you ever have - farther than
you probably have thought possible - and when it's over, you realize how much
stronger those muscles have become, and how much better prepared you are to
face the challenges that come your way.
It
was through working with Robin that I acquired one of the most important things
any actor can get - an actual process on how to bring a role alive. While I've
taken other classes from some extremely talented instructors that included some
discussion of methods for examining text, the bulk of what I typically got was
notes by the instructor as though they were directing me in a play. That is
very valuable stuff, but it doesn't really give you much of a process for
starting work on a role on your own, nor do you get much of a glimpse of the
variety of techniques that have come to light in the theatrical world. Robin
gave us tools we could use to bring the character to life in ways that went
beyond what was on the printed page, and thereby make those scripted words come
even more alive. And I think a huge part of that came from her making us push
the limits of our imaginations for nine months.
And
about those books about Meisner's techniques - while I now think part of the
reason they didn't grab me is that they aren't very well written, to pick up
the sports analogy again, you can read a book about playing golf, but actually
having someone guide you who really knows what they're doing is going to make
you much better at the game and a whole lot quicker. (Now that I've been
through the progression at Freehold, I actually recommend you not read the
books). And on top of all of that you get from Robin, if you're lucky like I
was, you'll go through the progression with a group of actors that also work
hard at it so that you feel challenged and inspired to keep up. You inevitably
feel closer to those who took the journey with you. There are other talented
folks teaching at Freehold who I also look forward to working with in time to
focus on areas we didn't have time to cover during the progression with Robin,
but I know that my ability to present truthful work grew by leaps and bounds
during the past nine months.
To
sum up, if you're not sure whether taking the Meisner progression at Freehold
is worth your time, let me help you decide: YES! Absolutely! Be grateful that
the gods have aligned the planets so that you have this opportunity and grab
it!" - Bob Rousseau
"Meisner
for me was really transformational and not just for the acting but really just
for the rest of my everyday life.
Meisner really strives you to live in the moment and to react to things
as if it is the first time, being genuine and authentic. I do some commercial work on the side and
I’ve been told that there is a new quality to my acting and that is 100%
related to the work from the class.
There is another piece that I got out of Meisner which was unexpected
which is that it actually changed the quality of my day to day life … it
allowed me to be more present in my life … it makes life much more
interesting." - E.J. Gong
"When
I was gearing up to take Meisner, everyone kept saying the same thing to me: 'It will change your life.' I was skeptical. I knew I would learn
more about acting technique and would most likely improve my craft, but life
changing? Silly me. Not only does it open you up in a way that allows you to
act more freely and with more depth, but it opens you up in your
"real" life as well. You explore parts of yourself that you didn't
even know existed or had long forgotten. You go to places that are scary and
uncomfortable and frustrating, but they allow you to do things you never
thought you could do and in the end you come out exhilerated. It makes you more
brave." - Jeff Woodbridge
"Robin
is a wonderful teacher and I would work with her again in a heart beat. She is
giving and encouraging, yet brutally honest at the same time. She does not let
you get away with anything which is wonderful! No matter how hard you try to
fight it, Robin will find a way to crack you open and bring you to new
levels."- Colin Featherson
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