.............Audience Reactions
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Dear Jim Jarrett,
I saw your play MEISNER last evening and it was simply stunning. It is always refreshing to experience the authentic, whether in theater, food, fabric or life...we hunger for it, but are not inspired deeply enough to leave the gods of convenience and complacency and earn a place in the presence of genuine universal spirit.
Not until an artist frees us from the puppet's strings and we rise again like phoenix kites into the soft and the warm of illumination. Thanks for cutting the strings, inspiring us to explore the skies and turning on the lights in the dim and the dark...
Khalil Gibran once said: A teacher is only someone who speaks loudly enough to themselves, so others may hear. Sandy spoke loudly enough, you listened deeply enough...it is up to all of us to make classrooms of our lives and live the lessons of authenticity. Thanks for reminding us that roots don't grow in topsoil. That you must dig into the buried layers to find the pure earth, untouched by erosion and teeming with life.
"All genius is met by violent opposition by mediocre minds" Albert Einstein
Keep that one in the wings when the birds of prey fly too close.
Be brave and fearless in your journey-Sandy's watching with proud eyes...
My deepest respect to you,
Lorna Zilba
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Hi Jim,
What an incredible evening you put together! I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn’t Sandy I was watching, but an amazing actor at work. You were riveting up there, Jim. God, I LOVED IT! I will be coming back with as many people as possible to experience your enormous talent.
With much appreciation and respect,
Lois Grandi
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Jim,
I am filled with emotion and energy after your show last night. A longer correspondence will follow when I've had time to really embrace all that has come my way through your talent, energy, and willingness to share your life and spirit, so for now a short, sweet thank you will have to suffice ... I'm washed in your goodness and sharing of your extraordinary talent, Jim. I'm sure I will be for a long time.
I suspect that our paths will continue to cross.
- Michael A.
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Dear Jim,
I couldn't believe it was 11:30 when I got in my car to leave your show; I was so captivated by your play and for the first third of the show I had tears streaming down my face. “Sandy” captured and expressed so clearly, poetically and passionately my own ideas of what theater can and should be.
Well, my hands are actually shaking as I type this. Either I'm over-tired, or just too damn excited to contain my feelings. I will be back in the audience again. And yes, I will tell everyone I know to run to the Magic to experience some of your magic.
With gratitude,
Sharon
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Hello Mr. Jarrett,
Man, I was so impressed with the quality of the play, the performance and the production. I could watch you work all night. I found the material so compelling and provocative. Your passionate love for and honoring of Sandy really shines through. Seemed to me like you had every member of that audience in the palm of your hand, too. I tell ya, your work is enough to make even a non-actor like me miss Sandy, and I never even met the guy!
All best,
Larry.
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Dear Mr. Jarrett,
I came to see your show last Friday night with my aunt and uncle and it
has been 4 days since your show, and I am still quite affected by it all. Your performance was so compelling and exciting to me and your message - and Sandy's message - will be stirring inside me for the rest of my life, that’s how inspired I was by your play. Thanks again for sharing your wonderful talent and spirit with us! … Shannon Nicholson
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Hi Jim,
To say that we had a great time at your show Saturday night would be a major understatement. The kids can't stop talking about it. They (and we adults) were awestruck, overwhelmed, transported, mesmerized and inspired! We decided that everyone (in the world!) should see this play and will do our very best to help make that happen!
Thank you so much!
Susan
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Jim,
I am a businessman who spends days fighting battles. Your play today was so good for my spirit and my soul. To see passion and love, to feel it as well is priceless.
One of my barometers of a great day is if I can tell myself that, at that moment,
there is absolutely nowhere else I would rather be. Today, that somewhere
was the Magic Theater. Thank you for your gift and talent.
Sincerely, Bruce
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Dear Jim,
Your play was without question, the most amazing artistic experience of my life.
I’ve been moved by people coming into my life a few times before but never like this and I can tell you, I will never be the same because of you, your play and Sanford Meisner. I’ve been literally changed by watching your show and encouraged, inspired by whom you are being and the work you’re doing.
Gratitude and Love, James
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Dear Jim Jarrett,
What a superb experience you provided me on Sunday!! I am very grateful to you for sharing your beautifully-honed gifts from Meisner.
Much of your presentation reflects a way of living one's life, Actor or Teacher or?? In a way I feel that my 40 odd years as a speech pathologist have been honing and developing my instrument as an actor whether I'm in a show or not. You demonstrated that as you became your version of Sandy, with great truth, and were exquisitely sensitive to each of us in the audience. You were continuing "your rehearsal of Sandy" for us, always alive and connecting. I wasn't just watching you. You're too good a teacher to permit that. You ENGAGED each of us. Isn't that what truly alive and real acting is? You didn't give me permission to stop engaging with you, until you "dismissed" us.
God I'm long-winded!! I'll stop now! Thank you for sharing yourself and Sandy so exquisitely. A fan letter like this certainly requires no response. I just feel good I had this opportunity to write it.
Very sincerely,
Don Cross
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Dear Jim,
Thank you on so many levels for the gift of your show on Sunday.
As the mother of an actor, I was moved to tears repeatedly as I watched Max on the edge of his seat, grasping, absorbing and experiencing Sandy's teachings. I doubly appreciate the messages and the lessons as they are totally in-line with what I want him to learn -- to follow his dream, to know that he won't always be understood or appreciated, but that he must find the vehicle for his expression and live the joy of a fully expressed life -- whatever that looks like.
At intermission, Max turned to me and said, "This is the most incredible experience of my life."
Like me, he was moved to tears repeatedly. I never knew Sandy Meisner, but found power in your becoming him rather than just talking about him. The video teaching dialogues were so seamless that I thought the other actors must be offstage, responding to you on cue. I was astonished to discover they had been pre-recorded.
While I am not an actor, and don't have any interest in ever being one, Sandy's teachings spoke to me. Your show needs to be seen by more than actors, it has the power to move all people willing and able to discover their own personal expression. So many people are shut down, living lives of frustration and bleakness. I think yours is a show that would have people leaving and rethinking how they want to spend their precious days on this planet.
Thank you, thank you for the special seating but mostly for taking on this important task. You touched our lives on Sunday, and I know you are and will be touching many, many more lives as this show's potential is realized.
My very best regards,
Vicki Whiting
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Dear Mr. Jarrett:
My husband and I attended yesterday’s matinee performance of “MEISNER …” We were both profoundly moved. We are not actors – he works in career development and I am a writer who hasn’t yet found an audience for my voice.
My husband and I have been talking about your play ever since we left the theater. We can’t stop talking about it, or thinking about it. It struck a chord – right away - with both of us, for different and similar reasons – related to our separate and combined lives. In fact, your message “screw your critics,” helped both of us immediately (I was fired from a job not too long ago and consequently am in a “career transition;” he got brutal criticism, just this morning, of his recently created website). Your message helped us sort out what we needed to hear and learn, and that, indeed, we could say, “Screw our critics” to the rest of the messages we received and to the ways in which they were delivered.
Why am I telling you all this? Because I wanted to illustrate an important point – that you know, but that others may not know – that the play is about acting (of course), but it can be applied to so much more.
Finally, I want to thank you for a most wonderful, rewarding, and inspirational experience. I was a bit under the weather in the morning and contemplating not making the trip from the Peninsula for the play. I told my husband that if I wasn’t better by the time we needed to leave, to go on without me. I was on the fence, but decided I really wanted to go. I am so, so glad I did, and guess what? By the early part of the play I was so engrossed, I totally forgot about my previous physical malaise – so your message has curative powers – physical, intellectual, and spiritual (all connected, of course).
Thank you, again. I can’t wait to see “Vincent,” when it comes back to the Bay Area. Please put me on your e-mail list to notify about your performances.
Best Regards,
Eve Visconti
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Hello Mr. Jarrett,
Thank you so very much for yet another beautiful and inspiring performance last Saturday night (I came two nights earlier).
I have to tell you-your show has been a blessing in the lives of my aunt, uncle, my friends Ted and David (whom you met after the show) and myself. It seems that we are all, in our artistic lives, at points of transition and reflection, and seeing your show at this time in all of our lives has had the profound effect of forcing us to question our commitments to ourselves and our dreams. I cannot
thank you enough.
Your candor, your enthusiasm, your honesty, your incredible work, and your spiritual willingness have been a gift to us all. THANK YOU SHARING SUCH A WONDERFUL PART OF YOUR LIFE WITH US!!!
Best Blessings,
Shannon