The levels of the different groups are for the Meisner technique only. Even professional actors who have undergone extensive training in other acting methods will have to "start from scratch" during this practice. They will be able to establish links with their previous experiences, on stage but also in other areas of their lives, but to begin with it will be more a question of "un-doing" reflex mechanisms, including acting mechanisms. We therefore always start this technique at level 1, and experience has shown that burning out the stages is counterproductive for the actor.

Actors who have already taken training courses in the Meisner technique (several courses or several months of regular classes), can contact us directly to establish a personalized course. Here again, starting from level 1 is always a good choice, but exceptionally bridges can be established based on a solid practice of a particular approach to the technique. It will then be necessary to ensure that complementary practices and links with other tools are practiced outside of class to be mastered.

No, complete beginners are welcome and sometimes progress very quickly. We will start with simple, concrete exercises before moving on to the text, making the transition gradually and precisely at each foundational stage of the work. It will never be about "playing" in the traditional sense.

Many schools place barriers to entry, sometimes artificially and in order to make their training selective and therefore attractive; sometimes to avoid ending up with inexperienced actors who are less comfortable with stage work and acting directions. We are constantly researching and developing our programs and use powerful and individualized tools. We are therefore happy to work with any person who is sincerely motivated and open to this practice, to be able to accompany them throughout their progression, taking into account their individual qualities and problems. Beginning actors who have not been polluted by traditional acting methods sometimes evolve even faster in this work, where one does not "play" and practices each successive exercise by being oneself. That said, we can't take everyone and sometimes have to make a selection, trying to give priority to those students whose experience tells us they have the most to learn from this work. Communication tools (CV, demo tape...) are welcome, if only to give you occasional feedback on them, in the spirit of our career coaching program.

Sanford Meisner was part of the original group that formed the Actors Studio, which presented different approaches to acting in an open and non-sectarian manner. When Elia Kazan left for Los Angeles four years later, Lee Strasberg, who had been excluded at first because of professional differences, joined and became the head of the Actors Studio, which would later be associated with him and "the method" representing the beginning of Stanislavski's work. This historically partial and questionable approach to acting (especially psychologically) will be promoted in retrospect as having caused the success of many actors, who sometimes only went through the Actors Studio as free listeners, or did not specialize in Lee Strasberg's method. Sanford Meisner and Stella Adler were interested in the evolution of Stanislavski's work until the end, and among other things the advanced work on imagination, being wary of the disastrous and counterproductive impact of the "sensory memory" (quickly abandoned by Stanislavski) or "affective memory" of Lee Strasberg.

Sanford Meisner continued to develop his approach throughout his life, with a certain pragmatism and a concern for concrete effectiveness. He therefore reworked his exercises throughout his career, sometimes going back to what he had previously developed, depending on the results and practice of his students. For this reason, he refused to document his work in general, and agreed to publish only one incomplete book ("On Acting") and to let some of his classes be filmed. He opposed the publication of books about his approach, and was aware that it would be misused and that teachers who did not care about his work or his principles would claim it, as was the case before his death. Today, his brilliant exercises continue to be taught in many different ways, often out of ignorance, sometimes out of conscious adaptation, and not one but many "Meisner techniques" are emerging. At Paris Meisner Studio, we have been researching this technique, its history and its links to other related fields that are better known and documented, for 8 years. We have also employed teachers who knew Meisner directly, including at the end of his life, and have developed the "Meisner & Systemic Coaching" program to meet the needs of students in terms of the coherence and complementarity of these approaches, focusing in particular on those that are the most psychologically healthy and long term, the most useful with regard to professional working conditions, and the most faithful to the founding principles of this very beautiful technique