“Every time the rents due there’s a thousand actors who run around and call themselves acting teachers and I can’t tell you how many claimed to have studied with me and just because you did study with me doesn’t mean you’re qualified to teach! If someone tells you they teach The Meisner Technique ask them if they have my blessing then watch their reaction. Trust your gut, you’ll know.”
… the late, great Sanford Meisner
There truly are only a handful of people personally trained by Sanford Meisner to teach The Meisner Technique.
Jim Jarrett, Founder/Director of The Meisner Technique Studio is part of this very select group. In fact, Jarrett was hand-picked by the master teacher to carry on his teaching legacy having spent four years training personally with Sanford Meisner from 1987 to 1991 – two as a student in his professional, private class then two more working privately with the master teacher - both as an actor and teacher-in-training. After his apprenticeship, Jarrett emerged as Sanford Meisner’s last teaching protégé.
Jarrett has been teaching The Meisner Technique through out the world ever since, with schools established in Sun Valley, Idaho, The Big Island of Hawaii and Florence, Italy. Now, almost a quarter century later, Jarrett has "come home" to San Francisco to open The Meisner Technique Studio. In so doing, Jarrett made good on a promise he'd made to Sanford Meisner many years before - to establish an acting school dedicated solely to the teachings of Sanford Meisner.
In a feature article about The Meisner Technique Studio with Theatre Bay Area Magazine, Jarrett talked about his vision and motivation:
"There are many teachers of The Meisner Technique - in San Francisco and all over the world. Most are either former students or students of former students. That's not a criticism, some are quite good. But there truly are only a handful who were personally trained by Sandy to teach 'his way.' Being a part of this select group is an honor I do not take lightly. And for Sandy, having his teachings carried on as pure and authentic as possible was extremely important to him. What I'm able to give my students are these teachings, one branch removed. And hopefully I'm able to pass on to a new generation his teaching brilliance as well as the standards, the integrity, the respect for the craft of acting Sandy instilled into every single one of his students.”
The Meisner Technique Studio of San Francisco is open to anyone – regardless of previous training and/or acting experience. There are seasoned professionals with extensive training along side students who’ve never acted before – all in the same class. That’s because everyone starts at the same place – the very beginning of The Meisner Technique.
The only requirement to being accepted into The Meisner Technique Studio is the sincere desire to take your career and dream to the next level and to call yourself an actor and have it truly mean something. We are also only interested in students with the following characteristics: passionate, dedicated, professional and humble.
If this is you and you’d like to experience The Meisner Technique as pure and authentic as possible – one branch removed from Sanford Meisner – please contact Regina Machelli – meisnerclass@jarrettproductions.com - Director of Admissions for details.