This book, written in collaboration with Dennis Longwell, follows an acting clas
s of eight men and eight women for fifteen months, beginning with the most rudim
entary exercises and ending with affecting and polished scenes from contemporary
American plays. Throughout these pages Meisner is delight--always empathizing w
ith his students and urging them onward, provoking emotion, laughter, and growin
g technical mastery from his charges. With an introduction by Sydney Pollack, di
rector of "Out of Africa" and "Tootsie," who worked with Meisner for five years.
