Meisner Technique: For Actors and Directors with Kevin R. Phipps

Are you an actor looking to bring your performances to a whole new level of realism and authenticity?  Are you a director looking to connect with your actors in a way that enables you to bring out the performances that you want.?  THIS is the class for you!

Actors who have completed this course in the past with Kevin Phipps, have moved on to be cast in major roles in Hollywood projects.  If you are serious about your craft, this class WORKS!

About the Meisner Technique

The goal of the Meisner technique has often been described as getting actors to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances. The technique emphasizes that to carry out an action truthfully on stage, it is necessary to let emotion and subtext build based on the truth of the action and on the other characters around them, rather than simply playing the action or playing the emotion.

About Kevin Phipps

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2729685/

Kevin is a professional Director and Assistant director with credits in LA independent feature film, music video, and high-budget national commercials.  His prior work includes almost ten years graphic and digital art experience, and can be seen in such publications as X-men and GI Joe comics. His children’s book “Hergbert: The Not So Scary Monster” is available online.

Disappointed in the performances he was getting as a film director, he knew he wasn’t able to communicate with the actors on their level. He took several different acting classes and found it hard to identify with the style. That is when he was introduced to Meisner by his long time friend and collaberator, Vincent Maeder.  Vincent just graduated from Dvorak Studio in Los Angeles.

Meisner’s approach immediately clicked and the performances in his films reached new heights. When Kevin finished the 2 year program he decided that this technique needed to be fully taught here in Arizona, not just a couple of workshops but the full program.

About Tommy Schaeffer

Tommy Schaeffer graduated from Lehigh University Theatrical Production & Design (and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering) in 1995. Soon thereafter, he moved to Arizona where he began his improv career performing with The Jester’Z and in 2004 he became a founding member of The Originals. Later in 2006, he became a co-founder of Arizona’s first longform theatre collective, The Torch Theatre.  There he sits on the board of directors, teaches on permanent faculty and performs regularly with Searching for X, The Foundation, The Skewed News Hour, The Phoenix Neutrino Project and The Remainders. Tommy supplements his improv work on stage with frequent short film and commercial acting projects as well as composing film scores and cinematic sound design.

Tommy has been teaching the fundamentals of longform improvisation, character work and physical play on stage since 2005.  Adhering to the core principles of longform improvisation, he focuses his teaching on building strong, believable character performances through listening, trusting your instincts, investing in the moment and working from pure, truthful emotions felt by the actor herself, not simply played by the character.  Tommy brings these co-aligned objectives into the Meisner classroom–along with the core Meisner principles–to further enhance your experience.