Acceptance into Acting II is by invitation and is based upon each student's work during the first year of training, as well as the discipline, commitment, and artistic growth they have demonstrated throughout the program.

If the first year of Meisner training lays the foundation, the second year builds the house.

With the fundamentals of truthful acting firmly in place, the actor begins the lifelong study of script interpretation, character development, and rehearsal process. The work expands beyond learning how to respond truthfully as yourself and begins asking a more sophisticated question:

How do you transform yourself truthfully into another human being?

The goal of Acting II is to provide actors with the tools to create vivid, psychologically truthful characters while remaining rooted in the spontaneity and freedom developed during the first year of training.

Building Character from the Inside Out

Second-year begins with the study of character.

Actors learn how to craft a point of view that is not their own, allowing them to move beyond personal instinct into the inner life of another human being. Students also explore physical and psychological impediments, learning how to truthfully create conditions such as pain, illness, fatigue, and intoxication without relying on imitation or cliché.

Character is never built from external choices alone. It emerges from specific inner life, imagination, behavior, and circumstance.

Script Analysis and the Rehearsal Process

The heart of Acting II is scene work.

Students work on challenging roles from many of the world's greatest playwrights, including Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, August Wilson, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, and others.

Actors learn how to approach a script for the first time, prepare for rehearsal, and build a repeatable process that can be relied upon throughout a professional career.

Students learn how to:

Break down a script with clarity and specificity
Justify every line of dialogue
Create truthful impulses
Work from playable actions
Use line intentions, particularizations, and as-ifs
Build psychologically rich and emotionally truthful characters
Integrate imagination, observation, and life experience into every performance

This is the work of the professional actor.

Returning to the Fundamentals

One of the great lessons of the second year is learning that preparation and spontaneity are not opposites—they depend upon one another.

Actors are taught to do their homework thoroughly and specifically, then return to the essential principles established during the first year: listening deeply, leaving themselves alone, trusting their impulses, and responding truthfully from moment to moment.

The more complete the preparation, the greater the freedom.

This balance between disciplined craftsmanship and spontaneous behavior is one of the defining characteristics of exceptional acting.

Language, Transformation, and Imagination

Sanford Meisner created a remarkable series of second-year exercises that continue developing the actor's ability to justify language, create impulses, and illuminate character.

Working with Mother Goose nursery rhymes and Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology, students discover how language itself can become a powerful vehicle for imagination, transformation, and truthful behavior.

These exercises deepen the actor's relationship to text before returning to increasingly demanding scene work for the remainder of the year.

Preparing for a Professional Career

Acting II is where actors begin developing the confidence and artistic independence required for professional work.

The techniques of script analysis, character creation, and rehearsal become second nature, allowing actors to approach auditions, rehearsals, and productions with clarity, discipline, and confidence.

More importantly, students continue developing the habits that define serious artists: curiosity, imagination, empathy, discipline, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to truthful storytelling.

For actors who are willing to challenge themselves, embrace rigorous training, and pursue excellence with humility and determination, Acting II provides the bridge between foundational technique and professional artistry.

Prerequisite: Successful completion of Acting I at Maggie Flanigan Studio.

CONTACT

Address:

147 W 25th St 5th Floor
New York, NY 10001

Phone:

(917) 794-3878
(332) 262-7852
(917) 768-3852
(917) 606-0982

Email:

studio@maggieflaniganstudio.com

LATEST POSTS

STUDENT TESTIMONIALS

“Completing the two year program was the best thing I could have possibly done for my career. I have every tool I need to go out and be the best actor I can be. If I could do it all over 100 lives in a row, I’d pick Maggie Flanigan studio every time.”

Seth Andrew Miller

“The Maggie Flanigan Studio has set a precedence in what a serious actor needs. This is not only an actor training, this was a life changing experience. I can’t express how grateful I am for this training. I walked in a boy, left an artist.”

Pedro Morillo, Jr.

“I was an untrained actor when I arrived at the studio. This program, and I mean the entire program (Acting, Movement, Voice, Script Analysis, Monologue, etc.) has given me the confidence I have been searching for, for years.”

Siouxsie Suarez

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OUR CLASSES

Acting II – Second Year Meisner Technique

CHARLIE SANDLAN

Charlie’s unique relationship with Maggie Flanigan began over twenty-five years ago. He received his MFA in acting from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School Of The Arts where Maggie and Bill Esper trained him in the Meisner Technique. Over the past 30 years Charlie has also studied and collaborated with many artists including Ben Kingsley, Fiona Shaw, Mark Wing-Davey, and Ellen Stewart.

ACTING STUDIO NEW YORK NY

The Maggie Flanigan Studio is the leading acting studio in New York City where professional actors train for long careers. The acting programs at the drama school are based on the Meisner Technique and the work of Sanford Meisner. The two year acting program includes acting classes, movement classes, voice and speech for actors, commercial acting classes, on camera classes, cold reading, monologue, playwriting, script analysis and the Meisner Summer Intensive.