A two-week intensive acting class in the Sanford Meisner Technique
July (17, 18, 22, 24, 25, 29) 2023
Mondays & Tuesdays 7:00 - 9:30 PM
Saturdays 12:00 - 3:00 PM
Instructor: Bill Leavengood
Cost: $300
Ages: 18 and up
Class size: 14 maximum
"I have been teaching the Meisner Technique for over 20 years with pretty amazing results.
Why “SHOTGUN” MEISNER? Because I have never had the luxury of having 1 or 2 years to teach the technique as is often suggested in the books. I have learned to teach it in a 4-week unit (basically, a total of maybe 15 teaching hours plus actor prep on their own).
I have had actors say, "Oh, yeah, Meisner, the repetition thing" usually in a tone suggesting they either did not like it or did not understand its value. My response: Either it was not a good teacher or they, themselves, did not understand it or what it was trying to bring forth from them as an artist.
It can connect actors with parts of what is inside them as a person and an artist that they have never accessed. Actors learn to truly listen and react and be “in the moment”.
Meisner also helps actors to operate on multiple levels of consciousness and to “live honestly under imagined circumstances.”
It is challenging and intense, though, so, buyer beware!"
-Bill Leavengood
About Your Instructor
Bill Leavengood is a veteran playwright, director, and teacher who has been working in the professional theatre for more than 30 years. He is a nationally-awarded, two-time Eugene O'Neill playwright, an alumnus of Circle Repertory, a current member of New Circle Theatre Company in NYC and the author of more than 50 plays, screenplays and books.
Leavengood’s successes as an acting instructor are spotlighted by his students who have routinely won Top Honors, Critic’s Choice and Superiors at District and State Thespian competitions as well as multiple state, regional and national scholarships and awards. His students have been accepted into the most prestigious Theatre programs including Julliard, Carnegie-Mellon, NYU-Tisch, UC-San Diego and Northwestern, among others.
Leavengood has been a guest lecturer and workshop leader at the Educational Theatre Association’s National Conference; Florida Association of Theatre Educators Conference, and the Florida Playwright’s Process at Ruth Eckerd Hall. As a teacher of Playwriting, he has helped his students at the high school and college level earn numerous national and regional student playwriting honors from the Blank Theatre, Hollywood; Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival; The Southeastern Theatre Conference; The Gorilla Theatre; Educational Theatre Association: and Young Playwright’s, Inc. NYC. His students’ plays have been published by Baker’s Plays and The Theatre Communications Group.
Leavengood’s own published works include Florida Bound , a collection of his plays, Hellenback High, Puss in Boots and the children’s book, Cat Moon Do. Leavengood has received grants from Florida Division of Cultural Affairs; Florida Council for the Arts, Pinellas County Arts Council, and the Berrilla Kerr Foundation. Other awards and honors include the Edith Oliver Fellows Award and "Best of the Bay" Playwright in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2005. He served as Artistic Director of the LiveArts Peninsula Foundation from 2000-2005 and was a proud member of the faculty at Shorecrest Preparatory School for over 25 years. He belongs to the New Circle Theatre Company (NYC), the Dramatists' Guild, and the Writers' Guild of America. www.billleavengood.com
