John Ruskin was Sanford Meisner's apprentice, first studying with the master at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City, continuing with him in Bequia, West Indies, then teaching with him at the Neighborhood Playhouse and privately during the 1980's. The Ruskin School is the West Coast representative of the Neighborhood Playhouse.

Ruskin, who opened his school in Santa Monica in 1987, offers a two-year course of study in Meisner Technique, as well as a Master class.

Anthony Hopkins as well as many other guest teachers have taught the Master class. The school offers classes in Alexander Technique, voice, movement, and Commedia dell'arte. The school also offers a six-week introduction class in the Meisner Technique throughout the year.

Anthony Hopkins teaching Master Class

The Ruskin School has opened its own theatre company located across the street from the school in the Santa Monica Airport. The Ruskin Group Theatre Company offers ongoing plays, performances, and an outreach program for the community at large. Theatre company members perform in children's hospitals, retirement homes, and prisons as well as teaching Meisner's technique to 14–18 year old boys in a youth correctional facility in Chatsworth, California. They also teach free drama classes to youths in downtown Los Angeles and members work with a hospice program offering their services to the elderly.

RECOMMENDED READING:

The Mystic in the Theatre: Eleonora Duse. (Biography of Eleonora Duse) By Eva Le Gallienne

Letters to a Young Poet. By Rainer Maria Rilke. Translated by Stephen Mitchell

Sanford Meisner on Acting. By Sanford Meisner and Dennis Longwell.

Acting: The First Six Lessons. By Richard Bolesklavsky.

The Fervent Years: The Group Theatre and the Thirties. (History of the Group Theatre)
By Harold Clurman.

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The Captain's Verses. By Pablo Neruda.

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom. By Don Miguel Ruiz.

The Holy Man. By Susan Trott.

An Incomplete Education. By Judy Jones and William Wilson.

Open Secret: Versions of Rumi. Translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks.

The Prophet. By Kahlil Gibran.

Tao Te Ching. By Lao-tzu. Translated, with foreword and notes by Stephen Mitchell.

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. By Sogyal Rinpoche.

Tuesdays With Morrie. By Mitch Albom.