Meghan Mulcahy talks about how her interest in musical theatre, which began when she was a child, evolved into a passion for the Meisner technique and then into teaching and directing. She discusses the pleasure that she derives from helping students at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio learn to wield the Meisner technique skillfully and find their own unique brilliance.
TKS: How did you first become interested in theatre?
Meghan: I grew up in Olympia, WA, and we had a great community theatre. It produced six musicals every summer, and I began performing in those productions at the age of 11. My first musical was called “Good News,” and it was good news for me, as I was hooked. I kept performing at the Playhouse throughout my high school years. When it came time for college, I applied to NYU and was surprised that I was accepted into the Meisner Studio rather than the musical theatre program. Within two days of Meisner training, I was hooked again.
TKS: What excited you so quickly about Meisner training?
Meghan: It totally reoriented how I thought about acting. I became fascinated by the concept that good acting is truthful, as distinct from indicated or manufactured. In musical theatre, you’re much more focused on blocking and singing and choreography. Acting is not the focus for many musical theatre performers, but when performers do value the craft of acting as much as that of singing and dancing, the result can be transcendent. Cynthia Erivo is a great example of this; her work in “The Color Purple” back in 2014 is still the most powerful live performance I’ve ever seen.
TKS: Do you see connections as well between Meisner training and musical theatre?
Meghan: Absolutely. One of the first questions that Terry Knickerbocker asks students, when they start Meisner training, is: Do you have performing arts training? He draws a parallel between a musician practicing scales and a Meisner student practicing repetitions. There’s also a clear musical parallel between the Meisner view that actors must treat ourselves as our own instruments and a musician being at one with his or her musical instrument. In addition, the Meisner technique makes you get your instrument in tune and ready to play.
TKS: How did you first meet Terry Knickerbocker?
Meghan: I had known of Terry for a long time because of our NYU connections. Terry taught the Meisner technique at NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing for many years, and we know many people in common. Nate Flower, for instance, teaches movement at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio, and he was my primary Meisner teacher at NYU.
I met Terry for the first time about 18 months ago, because I was pursuing the teaching of acting, and I had heard that Terry was interested in mentoring new acting teachers. He offered me an opportunity to shadow him for a year, which I enthusiastically accepted. It set me on a course that led to my teaching Meisner this year at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio.
TKS: What was it like to shadow Terry?
Meghan: It was exhilarating. Terry does a superb job of establishing from the outset the ethos of the Studio: that it’s about reverence for the craft, rather than the business of acting. That it is by learning and mastering the craft that a sustainable career of truthful acting is built.
That sets the stage for intense focus on the Meisner technique and energizes the students to pursue the craft. Through Terry’s teaching – and now my own – each of the students’ individuality emerges. They grow more confident and gain a greater sense of their own talents and passions. Watching Terry coax that out of students has been enormously illuminating.
I’ve learned hugely from shadowing Terry. Seeing the growth of students is what’s most satisfying to me. They discover so much about themselves and their artistry by pursuing Meisner training.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention several other acting teacher mentors to me as well. They include Nate Flower, whom I mentioned previously, Vicki Hart, who founded the Meisner Studio at NYU, and Karen Chamberlain, whom I shadowed at NYU this past semester.
TKS: Do you continue to direct, as you expand your teaching?
Meghan: Yes, I will most likely always teach and direct. Directing has been part of my career almost from the outset. Within six months of graduating from NYU, I was directing. I had intended to become an actor, but former classmates from actor training quickly started self-producing innovative new works and asked me to direct them. I soon found that I was captivated by directing. There’s something inherently exciting about the problem-solving that is at the heart of directing. How do you take a work on paper and make it three dimensional? How do you project the power of a piece on a limited budget? How do you inspire the actors to buy into your vision?
Now I’m directing student productions at NYU, while teaching acting at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio. Both activities, at their core, are about the same thing: the evolution of the students.
TKS: How does teaching at a conservatory compare with teaching in a university setting?
Meghan: The students at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio are much more diverse, because there’s a much greater range of life circumstances. You have students of all ages. You have students studying full-time and students who are working their training in among other obligations. You have students at various stages in their careers, including accomplished actors continuing to refine their craft. There’s often also a different level of commitment, because college students may still be exploring a variety of interests, where students at a conservatory have already clearly defined their commitment to acting. Students at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio have a kind of agency over the work that is distinctive and transformative.
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Meghan Mulcahy talks about how her interest in musical theatre, which began when she was a child, evolved into a passion for the Meisner technique and then into teaching and directing. She discusses the pleasure that she derives from helping students at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio learn to wield the Meisner technique skillfully and find their own unique brilliance.
TKS: How did you first become interested in theatre?
Meghan: I grew up in Olympia, WA, and we had a great community theatre. It produced six musicals every summer, and I began performing in those productions at the age of 11. My first musical was called “Good News,” and it was good news for me, as I was hooked. I kept performing at the Playhouse throughout my high school years. When it came time for college, I applied to NYU and was surprised that I was accepted into the Meisner Studio rather than the musical theatre program. Within two days of Meisner training, I was hooked again.
TKS: What excited you so quickly about Meisner training?
Meghan: It totally reoriented how I thought about acting. I became fascinated by the concept that good acting is truthful, as distinct from indicated or manufactured. In musical theatre, you’re much more focused on blocking and singing and choreography. Acting is not the focus for many musical theatre performers, but when performers do value the craft of acting as much as that of singing and dancing, the result can be transcendent. Cynthia Erivo is a great example of this; her work in “The Color Purple” back in 2014 is still the most powerful live performance I’ve ever seen.
TKS: Do you see connections as well between Meisner training and musical theatre?
Meghan: Absolutely. One of the first questions that Terry Knickerbocker asks students, when they start Meisner training, is: Do you have performing arts training? He draws a parallel between a musician practicing scales and a Meisner student practicing repetitions. There’s also a clear musical parallel between the Meisner view that actors must treat ourselves as our own instruments and a musician being at one with his or her musical instrument. In addition, the Meisner technique makes you get your instrument in tune and ready to play.
TKS: How did you first meet Terry Knickerbocker?
Meghan: I had known of Terry for a long time because of our NYU connections. Terry taught the Meisner technique at NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing for many years, and we know many people in common. Nate Flower, for instance, teaches movement at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio, and he was my primary Meisner teacher at NYU.
I met Terry for the first time about 18 months ago, because I was pursuing the teaching of acting, and I had heard that Terry was interested in mentoring new acting teachers. He offered me an opportunity to shadow him for a year, which I enthusiastically accepted. It set me on a course that led to my teaching Meisner this year at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio.
TKS: What was it like to shadow Terry?
Meghan: It was exhilarating. Terry does a superb job of establishing from the outset the ethos of the Studio: that it’s about reverence for the craft, rather than the business of acting. That it is by learning and mastering the craft that a sustainable career of truthful acting is built.
That sets the stage for intense focus on the Meisner technique and energizes the students to pursue the craft. Through Terry’s teaching – and now my own – each of the students’ individuality emerges. They grow more confident and gain a greater sense of their own talents and passions. Watching Terry coax that out of students has been enormously illuminating.
I’ve learned hugely from shadowing Terry. Seeing the growth of students is what’s most satisfying to me. They discover so much about themselves and their artistry by pursuing Meisner training.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention several other acting teacher mentors to me as well. They include Nate Flower, whom I mentioned previously, Vicki Hart, who founded the Meisner Studio at NYU, and Karen Chamberlain, whom I shadowed at NYU this past semester.
TKS: How does teaching at a conservatory compare with teaching in a university setting?
Meghan: The students at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio are much more diverse, because there’s a much greater range of life circumstances. You have students of all ages. You have students studying full-time and students who are working their training in among other obligations. You have students at various stages in their careers, including accomplished actors continuing to refine their craft. There’s often also a different level of commitment, because college students may still be exploring a variety of interests, where students at a conservatory have already clearly defined their commitment to acting. Students at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio have a kind of agency over the work that is distinctive and transformative.
