Hi Heather,
there's a famous story Terrayne Crawford has told about Grayson and herself off on their own rehearsing a scene they had together (this happened quite a lot on the DS set while the actors were waiting for a special effect to be set up). Grayson suggested that they try some of the "method acting" type technique in their scene, which was an emotional one (I'm guessing one of the Beth/Magda scenes). At the end of the taping, Grayson turned to Terrayne beaming and announced, "look, I cried real tears!" She used to say that if she needed to cry, all she had to do was think of a certain tie her Dad used to wear... so excruciating was it that the tears flowed on cue...
Grayson had several teachers and kept honing her craft for years. The most influential of her teachers, I think, was Constance Collier. Collier compared Grayson's personality as an actress to the celebrated Italian tragedienne Eleanor Duse, and gave Grayson a charcoal drawing of Duse as a tribute and a source of personal inspiration. I believe that Collier did not emphasize the Stanislavsky bit to the degree that other teachers (such as Strauss) did... There was more of an emphasis upon technique and problem-solving, I think.
Best wishes,
Steve
