Meisner International Vienna

ORKSHOPS
VIENNA

FALL 2022

with STEVEN DITMYER
(Director and Acting Coach from NYC, alumnus of Sanford Meisner)


LIMITED PLACES! Workshop 1 – (Foundation of Meisner Technique)
Monday, October 24th, to Friday, October 28th
Always from 6pm to 9:30pm. (Suitable for those with or without previous Meisner training). Workshop 2 – (Independent Activities)
Saturday, October 29th and Sunday, 30th and Saturday, November 5th and Sunday, 6th
Always 12noon to 4:30pm
(Suitable for those who have taken at least Workshop 1(Foundation of Meisner) with Steven or other Meisner training with same content). Workshop 3 – (Emotional Preparation)
Monday, October 31st to Friday, November 4th
Always 6pm to 9:30pm
(Suitable for those who have taken at least Workshop 1(Foundation of Meisner) and Workshop 2 (Independent Activities) with Steven or other Meisner training with same content). SPECIAL:
3 Hour Meisner Technique Introduction
Sunday, October 30th
6pm o 9pm
(A great way to learn about the Meisner Technique and to get a feel for how Steven teaches) *Registration required / Book on Eventbrite.com (find the link below next to the costs)

WHERE:
Studio Iaspis, Roßauer Lände 23A, 1090 Vienna

COSTS:

3 Hour Meisner Technique Intensive (October 30th) - € 10
To book the 3-hour Meisner Intensive:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3-hour-meisner-intensive-with-steven-ditmyer-tickets-417519310497
1 WORKSHOP:
Regular Price - € 375
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT - € 325 until Monday, October 10th, 2022

2 WORKSHOPS: (If booked together Workshop 1 and 2, or 2 and 3)
Regular Price - € 700
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT - € 600 until Monday, October 10th, 2022

3 WORKSHOPS: (If booked together Workshop 1, 2 and 3)
Regular Price - € 1,050
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT - € 900 until Monday, October 10th, 2022


REPEAT DISCOUNT
There is an extra discount of €25 for those who repeat a workshop, meaning they’ve done the full workshop with Steven either in Vienna or in any other city/country before and want to repeat it again. We also offer the possibility to participate as an OBSERVER (these places are also limited; please register if interested):

OBSERVING COSTS:
1 Day: € 45
1 entire 5-day Workshop: € 200
2 entire workshops (10 days): € 375
3 entire workshops (14 days): € 600

**STRICTLY LIMITED PLACES**

For Workshops 1, 2 & 3
Maximum 12 Participants per workshop
(On a first come, first serve basis)

SUITABLE FOR ALL LEVELS OF EXPERIENCE

These workshops are suitable for actors, directors, writers, and artists of all kinds. They offer an introduction to the Meisner technique followed by intensive training. This technique is one of the leading and most complete acting techniques in the Western world. The Workshops will be conducted in English (we could organize a translator for German if necessary) and the work will be in English and German depending on your language skills. Registration and questions: [email protected]
Organizer: Flora Resl
FOLLOW US:
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page Meisner Vienna: https://www.facebook.com/meisneractingvienna

Meisner International Homepage: www.meisnerinternational.com

STEVEN DITMYER is an internationally renowned director and acting coach from New York City and has worked with Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin and Arthur Miller among others. He graduated as an actor and later as an acting teacher from The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York. His teacher was the one and only Sanford Meisner. Since then, Steven has been sharing his knowledge in many different cities around the world including New York, Atlanta, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Berlin, Helsinki, Rome, Lisbon, Vilnius, Warsaw and Vienna. On October 24th, 2022, Steven returns to Vienna, Austria for the thirteenth time to continue the acting process with his students from past years and will also offer a Workshop 1 for newcomers. This time, there is also the possibility to do all three or two workshops in a row, and of course, you can also repeat one or more workshops to deepen and strengthen as an actor within the Meisner technique. Moreover, on October 30th, we offer a 3 Hour Intensive Meisner Introduction, followed by a short reception; a great way to learn about the Meisner Technique and to get a feel for how Steven teaches. You can read more about Steven and the Meisner technique at www.meisnerinternational.com

Words from Steven:

“These workshops offer a foundation and advanced work of the Meisner Technique, which was developed by Sanford Meisner at The Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he taught for more than 50 years – and where I had the privilege of being one of his students 31 years ago”. In his work at the Playhouse, Meisner trained many of our most distinguished actors and directors, including Robert Duvall, Sydney Pollack, Tony Randall, Christopher Lloyd, James Caan, Diane Keaton, Joanne Woodward, Steve McQueen, Jeff Goldblum, Allison Janney and many more. Meisner said, “Acting is the ability to live truthfully under given imaginary circumstances.”
Steven Ditmyer


::::::::::::::::::::: WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS :::::::::::::::::::::


FOUNDATION OF MEISNER TECHNIQUE - (WORKSHOP 1)

We will be working on “The ability to live truthfully,” by using the repetition exercise, which is an improvisational exercise that teaches you to focus on your partner, and if you really focus, you will start to really respond. And that’s what we are after, the truthful response, not the “this-is-what-I’m-suppose-to-say,” response (from the brain), but this is the TRUE thing to say because this is what I get from the other person right now. It’s an amazing exercise because it’s simple and honest. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. In this approach our emotions come freely, as a side benefit, a gift, when our attention is on something else – and that something else is what we are doing. Really listening, really working off our fellow actors and being in response to what is happening. Following our impulses from one unanticipated moment to the next unanticipated moment. Meisner told us, “The seed to the craft of acting is the reality of doing.” This principle: The Reality of Doing (really doing) is the foundation of all good acting. Then on the last day of the workshop, we will use text in the exercise (a short scene which will be given to the participants on the first day of class to learn by rote) to show how far your impulses can take you in your acting when you let go of the brain, truly listen, and spontaneously respond to your partner. I love this work because it is a very healthy approach to the craft of acting. The work is grounded in who we are today and what our past experiences mean to us now! There are many acting techniques, and the ones that are valid will help you arrive at the one ultimate truth, your truth. The work we will do together will lead you to acting with a deep personal meaning, a wonderful simplicity and to a level of working where technique disappears and what remains, is you in your acting. This workshop will help all those who are interested in Theatre, Film and TV – actors, directors, writers…everyone. I can’t wait for you to discover this work! INDEPENDENT ACTIVITIES – (WORKSHOP 2)

This workshop continues the training we started in Workshop 1 of really doing. Acting is doing. When we are not really doing on stage our acting has stopped. I say continues because part of what we have strengthened with Repetition is the ability to really listen and listening is a real doing. Developing Concentration! Now we are going to add an element to the repetition exercise called Independent Activity. Meisner said, “The quality of your acting depends on how fully you are doing what you are doing.”

This activity will demand real concentration in order for you to complete it. Once an actor places the totality of their concentration on the accomplishment of some concrete, specific, and truthful goal, they cannot help but react truthfully, from the core of their self and experience. One actor in the room will concentrate on an activity (with a meaningful reason out of their imagination for doing it) while the other actor will come to the door, like what we did in the last workshop (but now with a meaningful reason out of their imagination). We must always be in response to what is happening. A truly difficult activity will demand that you place the entirety of your concentration on it AND you must still respond to your partner - to what is actually happening from impulsive moment to impulsive moment! Remember – the exercise has no agenda. There is nothing that is supposed to happen. The point is to really do, really listen, and truthfully respond. If you do this, you create real contact between the partners. Not intellectual contact but emotional contact. And when this happens, strong truthful acting occurs. EMOTIONAL PREPARATION – (WORKSHOP 3)

In Workshop 3, I introduce “Emotional Preparation”. Emotional Preparation is that thing the actor does with themself before they enter the scene to alter their inner emotional condition. Why does the actor alter it? To create an emotional state that’s appropriate to the circumstances that happened before the scene begins. Meisner said this is the most delicate work of an actor and it takes time to master! The big question is where will the actor draw his emotional preparation from? And this is where it gets interesting! You will derive your preparations from a very powerful resource which you’ve been using all your life, probably without even realizing it. And that resource is your imagination! This is a very healthy way in - through fantasizing, daydreaming, using the actor’s imagination! It is very freeing for an actor to do this because they are not locked into what has actually happened. It isn’t a question of what did happen that activates an actor, but what might happen, what could be that activates an actor. Once an actor says what if, they can start to daydream, and daydreams are as limitless as the imagination itself. You will learn a specific process of how to use your imagination (using real people and things that have real meaning to you to alter your emotional condition). It’s a delicate journey of self-discovery and worth every step! I look forward to taking it with you! For booking and more information, please contact organizer Flora Resl:
[email protected] / 06765841733

The order and the content of the diverse Workshops which Steven offers are the following:

Workshop 1 (Foundation of Meisner Technique)
Workshop 2 (Independent Activities)
Workshop 3 (Emotional Preparation)
Workshop 4 (Relationships)
Workshop 5 (Relationships - The Domestic Exercise)
Workshop 6 (Scene Work – Super Objectives and Actions)
Workshop 7 (Character Work 1: Physical Impediments)
Workshop 8 (Character Work 2: Intense Pain)
Workshop 9 (Character Work 3: Drugs & Alcohol)
Workshop 10 (Character Work 4: Imitations and Point of View)
Workshop 11 (Advanced Scene Work)