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This guy is not a good teacher. I watched him teach and the students were all confused and he would get pissed at them for not understanding. This wasn’t one or two people. It was practically the entire class. I mean yelling, cussing, very rude and abusive. Not what I’d look for in an acting teacher. Also found out that most of his credentials he claims are lies. I’d run very fast.
My name is Kelly Nelson. I was a founding member of the Sanford Meisner Center for the Arts along with Martin Barter, Jimmy Carville, Sanford Meisner and "a few of our friends" back in the spring of 1995. Any negative posts here are from vindictive people with personal vendettas and have no artistic credibility whatsoever. I would suggest that, in the future, these people "take the high road" because spitting on people while they're down is not the path to redemption.
As someone who has a MFA in Theatre and wrote a thesis on acting theory - I can attest that much of what Martin 'taught' the class was the antithesis of Meisner's own published literature. He was obsessed with affective memory as the gateway to emotional availability and seemed more of a Strasberg guru than a disciple of Meisner. Of course, the studio was run more like a cult than an actual conservatory - roping off Meisner's seat (so no one else could sit in the chair). To say he was abusive is like saying 9/11 was 'unfortunate.' For some reason he didn't understand that screaming and degrading actors perpetuates their inhibitions and emotional barriers. He never ONCE came on stage with us or even guided or taught the class a basic warm-up routine. When inquiring about aspects such as Linklater work or Alexander Technique he disregarded these practices as '###.'
And in regards to the 'no artistic credibility' comment. Where are the alumni from the Meisner Center? Not on the big screen. Maybe Kelli Koppel but that's it. The studio claims Academy Award winners but it is referring to the Neighborhood Playhouse. It's all the work of a charlatan.