Diving into the Method Acting
If you've been acting for longer than a week... (probably not an exaggeration), your probably have already heard these phrases thrown out: Chekhov, Adler, Meisner, Brecht, Macy, Stoic, Stanislavski and Strasberg, and you know these are all acting teachers who came up with their own acting "methods", but "Method Acting" itself is mainly attributed to the last two listed here Stanislavski and Lee Strasberg.
Strasberg's idea is based on developing an emotional and cognitive understanding of actor's role. He says that actors should use their own experiences to connect to the role and to the character.
If you think of a method actor, first person (for many of you) might be Christian Bale, there's no other example in modern cinema that compares to the cycles that this man goes through to prepare himself for a role. Rober De Niro, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jim Carey also have put themselves in spots where they "become" the character, all in the name of love for performing.
So let's cover some of the most known acting techniques that you may not have heard about:
Viola Spolin
Spolin might be one of the less popularized names, yet she's developed a unique Theater Games approach that focuses on directorial and improvisational exercises for the actor and is considered to be a major contributor to the improvisational theater movement. If you've ever heard of the improv bible then it's quite likely that someone was talking about her system. It teaches you to live in the moment and respond quickly and truthfully to your present circumstances.
Check out these books:
https://www.webforactors.com/blog/theater-games-for-classroom
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Uta" class="redactor-autoparser-object">https://www.webforactors.com/b... Hagen
Uta's name is also not thrown out very often, yet this Tony Award winning actress has published multiple books which you might have forgot that you've read them. Her popular technique asks you to focus on realism and truth above anything else. You should substitute your own experiences and emotional recollection for what's happening in your role or your character's life.
Check out her book:
https://www.webforactors.com/blog/respect-for-acting
and this one which I haven't read yet on Amazon
And of course don't forget to take a look at other books we've listed on our blog. Plenty of them reffer to Meisner Technique, Stella Adler, Michael Chekhov and the Stanislavski's system.
Oh, and just because I came across it and don't want to plagiarize any of it, here's an awesome article about choosing an acting technique from backstage expert Casey Mink: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/choose-acting-technique-4027/
