Constantin Stanislavsky developed the "Emotion Memory System". In this "system" actors were forced to recreate memories they have experienced in their own life, rather than their imagination. Really, almost no imagination was involved. It makes sense if you think about, if you want your performance to be truthful, you have to come from a place of reality, not fantasy. He was all about truth. Living and breathing the character. This system was proven ineffective however, due to the fact that many actors who applied it, suffered from hysteria. His system then evolved into what is known as the "Physical Action Method". in this method, an actor will preform physical movements or actions, to reach the desired emotion. Essentially, the actor is working from the outside in, which seems like the complete opposite from his original system. I think, only by applying both methods can you find some value in it.
Micheal Chekov's approach, was using the outside to get in touch with the inside. He would explore the physicality of a character, in hopes of getting accessing the deep and subconscious side of a character. Chekov was one of Stanislavskys students, and so it makes sense that his technique is really a cross between Stanislavsky's two methods.
When discussing Lee Strasberg, you are really discussing Method Acting. Method Acting deals with combining the phycological state of the character, with the phycological state of the actor, until they almost become one. It is not so much playing a character, but playing yourself and making people believe that you are the character. A common question that is asked is, "What would motivate me, the actor, to behave in the way the character does?" It would be like if I'm in a scene in which I'm crying because I just found out my best friend died, I wouldn't be focussing on that actual circumstance to access the emotion, I would be focussing on something, that I Sabrina, could relate to.
Robert Lewis co-founded The Actors Studio. He focused on inner action and intention. "We must never settle for "what" we are doing and "why" we are doing it, but we also must ask "how" we are doing it. And if we have found the "how" we mustn't forget to justify the "what" and "why." He views what we are thinking as having a much greater importance that what we are saying or what we are doing.
Stella Adler's technique was all about imagination, completely contradicting Stanislavsky, who incidentally was her teacher. There are four key points in her technique. One, acting is doing. An actor must always be performing an action while on stage, and must always know what the justification is for that action. Two, developing the imagination. An actor must observe the real world to enhance the imaginary world they create on stage. Three, training the mind. The actor must really know what is going on in the play. They need to read, analyze, explore and research. Four, size. Everything an actor does on stage needs to be big, and done with conviction. There must also be a deeper meaning to everything you are doing.
Sandford Meisner's technique focused on how people interact. Their behavior, their reactions, their expressions... It was based on an actor's natural reflexes and impulses. Although this is most easily applied to improv, it can also be used in approaching a script.
