Summer Acting Program - Angie Elliston - Maggie Flanigan Studio 02

Summer Acting Program - Angie Elliston - Maggie Flanigan Studio 02 Q: Angie, what did you think it meant to train as an actor before you started the six weeks summer intensive? A: What did I think it meant to train as an actor? I suppose that I knew it had a lot to do with not just getting in tune with your emotions, but also it had things to do with movements and voice. I know it had a lot to do with a lot of other things. Sometimes I thought when I'm growing up; I would watch on TV how actors would train. It's just like looking at each other like marrying what you're doing and stuff, and you got this cliche about it. When I first got here, I did not expect that it would be this way because I remember Charlie came in the first day and he didn't even tell us how it was going to be. He just started telling us that you're going to repeat what I'm saying, but you're going to change the plurals. He does like that first Meisner technique which is the repetition. We were all just in shock. We were all amazed at how it worked so well. We learned how to hear, how to pay attention to the other person. We started realizing that in everyday life, these are things that we think we do, but we don't. You also learn a lot about yourself and the behavior of other people. I guess I did not know much about acting mostly because of where I come from. Then, coming here I thought it would be more about movement and expression, but it was not. It's more about internal. When you work with what's inside, you start working with the outside. It just automatically it starts showing the outside and that's the acting process. I just had to say that it was very unexpected everything I've learned. Q: What do you think training as an actor means now? Angela: Training as an actor now, after everything that we've learned and just these six weeks, I've determined that training has a lot to do with the relationship you have with yourself and accepting your emotions and learning how to just dive into different types of-- I don't know how I could put this. I would say like the relationship that you have with yourself and understanding how you work and accepting any emotions. Charlie made an example like suppressing your feelings. I had that problem at the beginning with certain emotions. I learned to accept those emotions and told myself that it's okay for them to come because it's me. It's my emotions. I'm entitled to my feelings. That's something that he kept repeating along through the semester and the summer. It stayed with me. I learned that it's just more about the relationship you have with yourself and observing other people. People watching is essential, listening and just paying attention and just trying to see and read the other person. That's like a ride. He used this metaphor. It's always going to stay with me. Acting is like a water skier. The other person is the boat that guides you around the water, and you were the water skier. You flow wherever the ship goes- it takes you. Maggie Flanigan Studio 153 W 27th St #803 New York, New York 10001 +1 917-789-1599 www.maggieflaniganstudio.com/ goo.gl/maps/oxqqExybwL32 plus.google.com/112291205845820496849 twitter.com/MeisnerActing www.facebook.com/MeisnerActing/ https://flic.kr/p/Tsq25S