ABSTRACT
Sanford Meisner’s early years were tragic. He was born at the beginning of the twentieth century, of immigrant parents. When he was five years old, his younger brother, only three years old, died suddenly. The guilt, mainly placed on Meisner by his parents, haunted him his whole life, and he withdrew into an isolationist lifestyle. Meisner always wanted to be an actor and, despite opposition from his practical family, he persisted and studied at the Theatre Guild School of Acting. The ability to accept the imaginary circumstance of an exercise or a play is what Meisner calls “the actor’s faith”. An actor accepts the imaginary circumstance of the play and agrees to not know what happens next. The stakes of the independent activity exercise become higher and higher, stretching and expanding the idea of “the we, we don’t know”.
