Anthony Meindl’s Acting Workshop

Obligatory group photo from Anthony Meindl’s 2018 Atlanta workshop

Anthony Meindl

I recently attended a two-day Anthony Meindl workshop. Anthony Meindl is a well-known acting coach and owner of Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop. There are 7 AMAW schools worldwide run by an additional 40-plus instructors. Tony himself teaches regularly in Los Angeles and periodically travels to the other cities. I caught him in Atlanta.

Katelin Chesna

AMAW Atlanta is run by Katelin Chesna, who hosted the event. She was very warm, talented, and an all around great host. You could either register as a participant or an auditor. Participants were given scene work to perform for the class and receive feedback and instruction from Tony. They also had better seats. I was an auditor, which meant I mostly observed.

Many of the participants were current students of Katelin at AMAW Atlanta, but all of the students worked well together. Tony would mix up scene partners and didn’t treat the AMAW students any differently than the others. I was impressed with them all. I was also pleasantly surprised at how much he invited us auditors to participate in feedback, questions, and group exercises. It was awesome.

After the event I had a chance to go out for dinner with many of the participants and Tony. That was a great opportunity for me to spend time with fellow actors in the South and Tony, who encouraged me to participate next time he comes down. I would love to, Tony. I’d love to.

Here are ten takeaways from the experience:

Don’t waste energy on that which you can’t control.
There’s a lot that is out of my control in this business and it’s easy to get sucked into worrying about it. There’s better uses of my energy.

When you “jump a tier,” you’re at the bottom of the new tier. It may feel like you’re right back where you started, but you’re not.
I really needed this one. I recently moved from non-Union to Union status. That’s a different tier and my work has slowed because I’m at the bottom of this new tier, but it’s still progress.

Life is moment to moment. So is acting.
Staying “present” is a major focus for me right now in acting, and (more importantly) in life.

Don’t overthink the breakdown or follow the stage directions. Let the text fill out the character.
The breakdown is the character description and is often filled with such descriptors as “edgy on the outside, but with a heart of gold.” Forget it. It will likely trip me up. Those things are not “actionable” and may not even be relevant to the scene given. Play the scene like I’d do it. Likewise, when instructions like “sighing,” “he shouts,” or “with a wink,” appear in the sides, know that those are for reading and not necessarily for performing. At least for auditioning purposes, they are NOT important and often distracts the actor from being present.

You can either be controlling or you can be powerful.
Surrender to the moment. Be vulnerable and let the moment win. The moment always win.

Try not to judge the [audition] room.
If the Casting Director has brought me in, they’re already on my side. The sooner I can befriend the CD, the better my performance will be.

Have FUN.
This is a huge note for me. I put too much pressure on myself and take myself way too seriously.

The body almost always knows what to do.
Get out of my head, stay grounded, and embody my emotions.

If you don’t get the job, it’s not an indictment on your talent. It just means it’s not your job.
Be kind and generous to myself. Do the audition, do it well, and let it go.

Drop your shoulders and breathe.
Almost anytime I’m trying to block an emotion, my body tenses, my shoulders raise, and my breathing gets shallow. Breathing deeply and relaxing my shoulders helps me to access my emotions that I need to tell the story.