<P> Method acting is a range of training and rehearsal techniques that seek to encourage sincere and emotionally expressive performances, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, principally in the United States, where it is among the most popular--and controversial--approaches to acting . These techniques are built on Stanislavski's system, developed by the Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski and captured in his books An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, and Creating a Role . Among those who have contributed to the development of the Method, three teachers are associated with "having set the standard of its success", each emphasizing different aspects of the approach: Lee Strasberg (the psychological aspects), Stella Adler (the sociological aspects), and Sanford Meisner (the behavioral aspects). The approach was first developed when they worked together at the Group Theatre in New York . All three subsequently claimed to be the rightful heirs of Stanislavski's approach . </P> <P> "The Method" is an elaboration of the "system" of acting developed by the Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski . In the first three decades of the 20th century, Stanislavski organized his training, preparation, and rehearsal techniques into a coherent, systematic methodology . The "system" brought together and built on: (1) the director - centred, unified aesthetic and disciplined, ensemble approach of the Meiningen company; (2) the actor - centred realism of the Maly; (3) and the Naturalistic staging of Antoine and the independent theatre movement . </P>

The man credited with founding the method and thus the father of modern acting is