The Actors´s Playing Position meets Meisner mit Greta Amend und Mike Bernardin vom 08.07 - 11.07.2013 im Actors Space Berlin!

The Actor’s Playing Position...
(putting yourself in a position to play)
...meets Meisner

Four days' intensive actors’ workshop, in English and German,
with Greta Amend and Mike Bernardin

8rd to 11th July  2013

Monday to Wednesday 10.00 - 14.00h, Thursday 10.00 - 16.00h

Don’t offer your “self” merely, but your Playing Position... Offer your joy, the pleasure of being an actor.

Life is a game, and the world is our stage. Again and again in their acting we see great players pull aces from their sleeves. And we ask ourselves: how do they do that? What's their game? A return for this unique combination of work, from two uniquely popular and respected teachers.

No matter how we are trained, what dreams an actor has, the moment comes - in front of the camera, in the interview, in the casting, on the set, on stage, or in the moment when you are asked to give your Whole Biography in a single Moment, or when the director says “.... and ‘action!’” - that it matters to say “Yes!” to the Game. The actor’s objective in that MOMENT, to make an interesting playing offer, is only possible if he remains in a Playing Position... This is also, however, only possible for the actor who knows himself, his personality, the Game and how it is played.

"No artist's work can be truly free until they have rid themselves of the opinions of other people"

Meisner's philospohy of actor training demanded that the actor live to satisfy his own artistic point-of-view before asking what other people want. This seems exactly the opposite of most actors' position in relation to our business. We worry too much and try to adjust to what "they" are expecting, usually before we are even through the door! The now familiar exercises in Meisner's approach have much to teach us, not only about "acting" itself but also about our relation to the industry.

"To be interesting as an actor you have to be authentic, and that means making friends with yourself"

To succeed as an actor, to bravely throw spontaneity and joy into the Game requires a full awareness of one's own acting potential. This combination of the Meisner Technique and Greta's unique work on the Playing Position promotes your artistic expressiveness and motivates you to develop your appetite for risk; to play with richer nuance, lighter and more boldly, with humour and grace.

The work is accompanied by the camera, and we will jointly evaluate the recorded material. In addition to interviews in close-up and Ensemble Training, we will use exercises to create an inspiring personal vision (Pitching). Also, Cold Readings (or “how to play the sheets”) examining the different formats and authors, and Warm Readings, given with time for targeted preparation. All these exercises will be interspersed with the familiar Meisner work, seeing how the fundamental requirements in acting and casting situations are the same...

Mike Bernardin is the founder director of the Actors-Space Berlin, having first introduced the Meisner Technique to German actors in 2005. Greta Amend is a casting director and director, as well as lecturer at the Media Academy of Hamburg and the DFFB. She is an actress and acting coach. Through her extensive knowledge of the industry and its practitioners, Greta offers a professional review of CV/Resumé/Photo/Demo material from the point of view of the casters, individual feedback on your own (role) profile, and works on how to motivate your image development and self-management in film, theatre and broadcasting.