In 1931, a fervent group of young actors, including Sanford Meisner, Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, Elia Kazan and Harold Clurman joined together to create the Group Theatre.  It was the first permanent theatre company that brought “method” acting, rooted in the work of Konstantin Stanislavsky, to practice and prominence in America.

In 1933, Meisner became disenchanted with pure “method” acting.  He wrote, “…Actors are not guinea pigs to be manipulated, dissected, left alone in a purely negative way.  Our approach was not organic, that is to say, not healthy.” Eventually Meisner realized an American approach was needed to achieve the goal of “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” The Neighborhood Playhouse provided him with the venue to develop that approach on his own.  In 1935 he headed the Drama Department at The Playhouse, while continuing to act and produce plays by The Group Theatre until its demise in 1940.  Meisner left The Playhouse in 1958 to become director of the New Talent Division of Twentieth Century Fox and moved to Los Angeles.  In 1985, Meisner and his life partner, James Carville founded The Meisner/Carville School of Acting. Throughout his career Meisner taught such notable artists as: Robert Duvall, Kathy Bates, Grace Kelly, Jo Van Fleet, Tony Randall, Lesley Moonves, Lee Grant, Peter Falk, Gregory Peck, Steve McQueen, Bob Fosse, Diane Keaton, Sydney Pollack, John Cassavetes, Christopher Lloyd, Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott, James Caan, James Gandolfini, Jeff Goldblum, John Voight, Mary Steenburgen, Sandra Bullock, and Tom Cruise to name a few.