What is the Method?
About Jim O’Connor
Jim O’Connor is an America actor living in Tokyo. He received his bachelor of fine arts in acting from the University of Rhode Island ’87, where he studied the Meisner Method. After working in regional theater under the guidance of tony award-winning director, Adrian Hall, Jim relocated to New York City where his career shifted to daytime soap operas, feature films and national network commercials. Thereafter, Jim explored the growing trend as a television host with his own shows on Food Network and USA Network. Throughout his professional pursuits, Jim steadily trained with Gary Swanson, a first generation pupil of Lee Strasberg, lifetime member of The Actor’s Studio and inaugural teacher for the Actor’s Studio MFA program.
Method training with Jim
Method training with Jim O’Connor begins with a series of sensory exercises designed by Lee Strasberg to fundamentally train the actor’s instrument. Starting with the “cup” exercise, you will develop the sensory skills necessary to privately recall past events, people, places and things which evoke the emotional and psychological conditions like that of your character, thereby authentically meeting the demands of the play.
You will learn the techniques to recover these rich experiences using sense memory and bring them back to life sensorially through taste, touch, smell, sight and sound. Bring your character to life by bringing your life to the character.
Additionally, you will learn the basic grammar of acting as well as script analysis and character study, with specific instruction on how to apply Method acting techniques to scripted material. Freedom from tension, fear and self doubt is a crucial element in an actor’s work and special attention is given to these and all common acting problems. Jim enjoys teaching the Method and passing on this knowledge to other performing artists.
Where the Method comes from
The term “method” simply refers to a way of training and practicing a particular craft. The grandfather of Method acting was Konstantin Stanislavsky who developed a “system” which trains the actor to draw upon their own life experiences in the portrayal of a character. This groundbreaking work was brought to the American stage when Stanislavsky’s Moscow Art Theater toured New York City in the 1920’s.
A group of young New York theater professionals, Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman, Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner and Cheryl Crawford were floored by this organic work and immediately began training in this system. Later, they formed their own company, The Group Theater, which went on to revolutionize modern acting.
After the Group’s disbandment, Lee Strasberg took the helm at The Actor’s Studio where he continued to hone the Method and train industry greats such as Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Ellen Burstyn, James Dean, Dustin Hoffman, Sally Field, Al Pacino, Paul Newman, Jane Fonda and Marilyn Monroe.
Why it’s misunderstood
Today, Method acting is largely misunderstood due to ignorance. The only way to learn the Method is through the real-time practice of guided exercises. Additionally, most Hollywood media outlets obfuscate poor behavior as somehow the result of an acting exercise.
Storytelling & the actor
Storytelling is why human beings have been so successful as a species. It’s in our DNA. This practice allows for the transfer of vital information from one generation to the next, not only for basic survival but also for an understanding of the human condition. Humans cannot live on bread alone. The arc of human life includes an insatiable appetite for meaning and purpose. These values are mined by the artist and shared with an audience.
Plays, movies, novels, poems and songs all tell a story and carry a message. Actors explore the friction of life in search of a beautiful understanding, starting with themselves.