Being present isn’t about performing — it’s about living truthfully.
Presence Is the Heartbeat of Acting
Solid acting is present acting.
But how does one achieve being present from the start to the finish of every scene?
The most captivating performances come from actors who are fully present — alive in the moment, listening, feeling, and responding truthfully.
Whether you’re on stage, in front of the camera, or exploring the craft in class, presence is what makes your work truly magnetic.
Here’s how to cultivate it.
Presence Begins with Listening
To be present, your attention must live outside of yourself — on your scene partner, your objective, and the world of the scene.
In The Class Acting Studios’ Meisner and Scene Technique classes, training this muscle through repetition, sensory awareness, and active listening provides a strong base for presence to be built upon.
The goal isn’t to perform perfectly — it’s to live truthfully.
When you stop performing and start responding, the scene becomes electric.
But how do you do it?
How do you be fully present through the duration of any scene?
Preparation Paves the Way for Presence
“Preparation is not the “secret ingredient”, but it is the one that is the most commonly misunderstood.”
Nerves can often be contributed to not spending enough time in preparation.
Often, actors can get so worried about not being able to remember the lines, but the ‘trick’, if we can even call it that, is to over prepare. Then, the lines come naturally, effortlessly.
Read the script. A lot.
Break down the script.
Read the script more.
Create a backstory the aligns with the text. -What’s the relationship? How does my character feel about the other characters? What are my character’s opinions that drive their narrative? Etc.
When you understand the character, the situation they are in, and the character’s perspective, the story will be conveyed with authenticity. No need to worry about the lines-they will come naturally-as the byproduct of great ‘over preparation’.
Student, Christopher Cook, on the set of Vontrapped.
Presence and Emotions
Emotions can be one of the most overwhelming aspects of pursuing acting.
Though the drive to be ‘great’ can be strong, the average actor finds themselves incredibly intimidated, and overwhelmed, by producing authentic emotion in a scene. Understandably so. When you don’t have dependable tools in your tool belt to prime the emotional pump, so to speak, you may find yourself guessing at how to achieve the goal at hand. Newer actors will often times lean on hard things they’ve been through to illicit heavier emotions, for instance, but there are healthier ways to access these emotions.
To achieve this, one must set out to be supported by everything that would free them up to be fully present.
Preparation=Presence
LA/NY trained instructor, Shelby Busey Jennings, recommends starting the preparation process prior to the task of setting out to memorize the lines. “Get to know the text. Read, read and read some more-BEFORE memorizing. Discover the writer’s intent. Tell their story.”
Jennings goes on to explain that actors will often miss telling the writer’s intended story by jumping straight into memorization.
Jennings explains, ‘The emotions aren’t in the lines, but within the character. And they find their way out when pushed out by truth. Naturally, you must find the truth in your preparation.”
And the emotions? Jennings encourages that the emotions can be easily accessed through proper preparation.
“We teach students these tools via the Meisner Technique. The goal in Meisner is to create an environment where actors experience emotions as a byproduct of the preparation and scene circumstances.”
If the goal is to be completely emotionally available, the pursuit must be to be fully present.
“This isn’t your story. It’s the writer’s. When you skip finding the understanding of the story, you risk telling a completely different story all together.
It’s a journey that cannot be skipped, not if you’re going to be a truly great actor.”
December 15, 2025
Written by K.S Williams
Get to know instructor, Shelby Busey Jennings.