Terry Brino-Dean, Ph.D., associate professor of theatre and dance and director of the Theatre Program, has recently become a certified Meisner instructor.

With the certification, Brino-Dean is now part of a small group of instructors across the country who has been trained to teach the Meisner approach.

Brino-Dean studied under Larry Silverberg, who was the first to write books on the Meisner approach, which was created by Sanford Meisner, a noteworthy acting teacher who taught at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

Meisner is recognized for instructing some of the most famous actors of the several generations. He created a unique approach to the acting process that was based on the work of Constatin Stanislavsky.

Meisner insisted that no books be written teaching his methods, because “you can’t learn acting from a book,” said Meisner. However, Meisner did collaborate with Silverberg to complete workbooks. These workbooks are the principle instruments for the popularization of the technique.