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 * Sandbox for article on Theatre studios

A theatre studio (also known as an actor's studio or theatre laboratory) is a concept that the Russian theatre director Vsevolod Meyerhold first proposed to Constantin Stanislavski in 1905. Their Theatre-Studio was conceived as an experimental laboratory of theatrical practice in which experienced actors, working in isolation from the public, would develop new forms and techniques. Stanislavski later defined a theatre studio as "neither a theatre nor a dramatic school for beginners, but a laboratory for the experiments of more or less trained actors." Though they would explore divergent paths following their studio's demise, the experience convinced both practitioners of the importance of developing new forms of actor training as a foundation for any project for a new theatrical art. Mostly under the auspices of the Moscow Art Theatre (MAT), Stanislavski established several more theatre studios as laboratories for actor training, for which the theatre eventually provided the financial backing. Each developed as individual collectives and all produced innovations in the field. Meyerhold and Stanislavski's development of theatre studios offered a model of theatre pedagogy and practice that many of their students and followers have imitated, including Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Michael Chekhov, Richard Boleslavsky, and Anatoly Vasiliev; the Actors Studio in New York and Jerzy Grotowski's Theatre Laboratory are among the best-known examples.

MAT studios
I may add that it is my firm conviction that it is impossible today for anyone to become an actor worthy of the time in which he is living, an actor on whom such great demands are made, without going through a course of study in a studio.

Theatre-Studio on Povarskaya Street
In response to the innovations of Russian Symbolism in other arts (poetry, painting, and music) and under the auspices of the Moscow Art Theatre (though in reality funded privately by Stanislavski himself), Stanislavski and Meyerhold's collaboration aimed to establish symbolism in the theatre. Stanislavski wrote that their Theatre-Studio was based on the belief that: [...] realism, the depiction of everyday life, had outlived its time. The time had come for the unreal on stage... One must show not life as it flows by in reality, but as we dimly perceive it in our dreams, visions, moments of elevated feeling. This is a spiritual state and it must be conveyed in the theatre, just as painters of the new school show it in their canvases, musicians of the new trend in their music and the new poets in their verse. The works of these painters, musicians, poets have no clear outlines, definite finished melodies, clearly expressed ideas. The strength of the new art lies in the combination and pairing of colours, lines, musical notes, in the harmony of words. They create overall moods unconsciously affecting their audience. They convey allusions which cause the spectator himself to create through his own imagination". The studio's planned repertoire was to include plays by Henrik Ibsen, Gerhart Hauptmann, Maurice Maeterlinck, Emile Verhaeren, Stanisław Przybyszewski, Knut Hamsun, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, August Strindberg, Valery Bryusov, and Vyacheslav Ivanov.

In 1904, Stanislavski had finally acted on a suggestion made by Chekhov two years earlier that he stage several one-act plays by the Belgian symbolist playwright Maurice Maeterlinck.

The ideas of Valery Bryusov and the Russian Symbolist movement represented the avant-garde in Russia at the time. Bryusov called for a form of acting that released the actor's creativity and the audience's imagination from the limitations of the conventions of realism. Bryusov had criticised the realism of the MAT in a famous article entitled "Unneccessary Truth" (1902); see Braun (1995, 30-31) and Carlson (1993, 313-314).

Materlinck's essay on symbolist drama "The Tragic in Daily Life" (1896) had been published in Russian translation in 1901 (as part of his The Treasure of the Humble). In May 1904 the translator of Maeterlinck's three plays into Russian, Konstantin Balmont, met with the playwright to seek his opinions on their staging. Maeterlinck explained that he wished his dialogue to be spoken with an understated expressivity that should fall somewhere between romantic declamation and total realism. As Stanislavski would come to do with his 'system', Bryusov placed the burden for a modernist transformation of the art of the stage squarely on the shoulders of the actor: the "art of the theatre", he wrote, "and the art of the actor are one and the same thing." Valery Bryusov, quoted by Benedetti (1999a, 151); "The theatre's sole task is to help the actor reveal his soul to the audience". Bryusov, quoted by Braun (1995, 31).

In practice, though, Stanislavski struggled to realise a theatrical approach to the static, lyrical qualities of Maeterlinck's symbolist drama. When the triple bill consisting of The Blind, Intruder, and Interior opened at the MAT on 14 October 1904, the experiment was deemed a failure.

Soon after, however, Meyerhold returned to Moscow with the results of the experiments he had conducted with his "New Drama Association" in the Ukraine and Georgia. Meyerhold had left the MAT in the spring of 1902 and by the autumn had established a company with Alexander Kosheverov in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine. When in 1903 Meyerhold assumed sole responsibility for the company, he renamed it the "New Drama Association"; Rudnitsky explains that, two years before Stanislavski's experiments, this had been "the first sign that there was in Russia a director who would at least try to depart from the aesthetic system of psychological realism and in practice apply the principles of Symbolism to the theatre. For Meyerhold soon made it known that 'New Drama' was for him not only Ibsen, Hauptmann and Chekhov, but also Maeterlinck, Przybyszewski, and Schnitzler" (1981, 33). Having toured a number of other Russian cities, in 1904 the company moved to the more cosmopolitan Tbilisi in Georgia.

Stanislavski responded positively to Meyerhold's new ideas, which prompted Meyerhold to propose a "Theatre-Studio" (a term which he invented) that would function as "a laboratory for the experiments of more or less experienced actors." Meyerhold was to be the artistic director, with Stanislavski serving as a co-director. The Theatre-Studio aimed to develop Meyerhold's symbolist aesthetic ideas into new theatrical forms that would return the MAT to the forefront of the avant-garde and Stanislavski's socially-conscious ideas for a network of "people's theatres" that could reform Russian theatrical culture as a whole. At the first meeting of its members, Stanislavski defined the studio's task as "to find together with new currents in dramatic literature correspondingly new forms of dramatic art." In his proposal, Meyerhold had described its task as the search for "new means of representation for a new dramaturgy." Bryusov became involved as its literary advisor and helped to define the company's artistic principles.

Officially attached to the MAT but actually subsidised privately by Stanislavski himself, the Theatre-Studio was inaugurated on 15 June 1905. The Theatre-Studio's company consisted of actors from Meyerhold's "New Drama Association," actors from the MAT, some from the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, and students from the Art Theatre School. Stanislavski hired a run-down theatre for the Theatre-Studio on the corner of Povarskaya Street and Merzlyakovsky Lane, the former Nemchinov theatre in the Girsh house, which he paid more than 20,000 roubles to renovate.

When it presented scenes from Maeterlinck's The Death of Tintagiles, Hauptmann's Schluck and Jau, and Ibsen's Love's Comedy on 23 August 1905 at Pushkino, Stanislavski was encouraged. When the work was performed in a fully-equipped theatre in Moscow, however, it was regarded as a failure and the studio folded. From the Theatre-Studio's failure Meyerhold drew an important lesson: "one must first educate a new actor and only then put new tasks before him," he wrote, adding that "Stanislavski, too, came to such a conclusion." Meyerhold would go on to explore physical expressivity, co-ordination, and rhythm in his experiments in actor training (which would found 20th-century physical theatre), while, for the moment, Stanislavski would pursue psychological expressivity through the actor's inner technique. Reflecting in 1908 on the Theatre-Studio's demise, Stanislavski wrote that "our theatre found its future among its ruins." Nemirovich disapproved of what he described as the malign influence of Meyerhold on Stanislavski's work at this time.

First Studio
The First Studio was created in 1912. It opened with a production of Herman Heijermans' The Wreck of the 'Hope'. Richard Boleslavsky modeled the American Laboratory Theatre, which was to prove so influential for 20th-century acting in the US, on his experience in Stanislavski's First Studio.

In 1923 the First Studio became independent of the MAT and re-named itself the Second Moscow Arts Theatre. Michael Chekhov led the company between 1924 and 1928, after which he created studios of his own in Europe and the US. Stanislavski came to regard the Second MAT as a betrayal of his principles. Bersenev, Sushkevich and Birman took over the leadership of the theatre after Chekhov's departure. It was closed in 1936. At a studio in Germany Chekhov taught a physical and imagination-based system of acting training that included his "Psychological Gesture" technique. Based on the symbolist ideas of Andrei Bely, it requires the actor to physicalise a character’s need or internal dynamic in the form of an external gesture. Suppressing the outward gesture, the actor incorporates it internally, allowing the physical memory to inform their performance on a subconscious level. In 1936 Chekhov established The Chekhov Theatre School at Dartington Hall in Britain, though two years later it moved to Connecticut in the US.

Second Studio
Stanislavski created the Second Studio of the MAT in 1916. It focused more on pedagogical work than the First. Stanislavski developed the training techniques that would form the basis for his manual An Actor's Work within it. Its members included Nikolay Khmelev, Maria Knebel, and Alla Tarasova. Its opening production was The Green Ring, a four-act play by Zinaida Gippius. The Second Studio was eventually merged with the main company of the Moscow Art Theatre; its independent existence ceased on 1 September 1924. From this time, the studio became the Dramatic Studio and School, under Stanislavski's leadership. Its members were augmented by some former members of the Third Studio. The MAT's productions of Mikhail Bulgakov's The Days of the Turbins in 1926 and Vsevolod Ivanov's Armoured Train 14-69 in 1927 each marked significant stages in the assimilation of the "second generation" into the main company..


 * 1916: The Green Ring (Zelenoe koltso) by Zinaida Gippius. Opened on 24 November. Cast included . Directed by V Mchedelov, with some final rehearsals taken by Stanislavski. Scenic design by S B Nikritin and A V Sokolov. 401 performances given in total, running until 2 June 1922.
 * 1918: Youth by Leonid Andreyev. Opened on 13 December. Directed by N Litovtseva and V Mchedelov, with some final work by Stanislavski. Scenic design by N Masiutin and music by S Pototskii. 371 performances given in total, running until 22 April 1924.
 * 1919: Flood by Berger. Directed by Yevgeny Vakhtangov for the studio's tour to Simbirsk.
 * 1920: The Rose Pattern by Fyodor Sologub, adapted from his novel Miss Liza. Opened on 19 March. Directed by V Luzhskii. Scenic design by M Gortinskaya and music by S Pototskii. 219 performances given in total, running until 23 March 1924.
 * 1922: The Story of Ivan the Fool and his Brothers adapted by Michael Chekhov from a story by Leo Tolstoy. Opened on 22 March. Directed by B Vershilov and Stanislavski. Scenic design by B Matrunin, costumes by K Ushakov, and music by I Sakhovskii. 138 performances given in Moscow, running until 17 September 1928.
 * 1923: The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller, in a translation and adaptation by P Antokolskii. Opened on 6 March 1923. Directed by B Vershilov, E Telesheva, and E Elina. Scenic design by V Iustitskii, costumes by K Ushakov and T Osipova, and music by V Oranskii. 42 performances given in total, running until 11 May 1923.
 * 1924: The Storm by Alexandr Ostrovsky. Opened on 13 April. Directed by E Telesheva with staging by I Sudakov. Scenic design by B Matrunin and music by V Oranskii. 45 performances given in Moscow, running until 10 May 1924.
 * 1924: The Invisible Woman by P Calderone, in a translation by K Balmont. Opened on 9 April. Directed by L Zueva, with staging by B Vershilov. Scenic design by I Nivinskii, costumes by N Lamanova, music by V Oranskii, choreography by L Lashchilin. 154 performances given in total, running until 16 March 1927.
 * 1925: Elizaveta Petrovna by D P Smolin. Opened on 29 March on the small stage of the MAT. Directed by L Baratov, V Mchedelov, E Telesheva, V Stanitsin. Scenic design by S Ivanov and music by I Sakhnovskii. 310 performances given in total, running until 24 May 1934.


 * 1918: Studio Diary. Opened on 14 February. Directed and adapted by E F Krasnopolskaya and N O Massalitinov. (Several versions)

Opera Studio
Benedetti argues that a significant influence on the development of the 'system' came from Stanislavski's experience teaching and directing at his Opera Studio. He created it in 1918 under the auspices of the Bolshoi Theatre, though it later severed its connection with the theatre. The studio underwent a series of name-changes as it developed into a full-scale company: in 1924 it was renamed the "Stanislavski Opera Studio"; in 1926 it became the "Stanislavski Opera Studio-Theatre"; in 1928 it became the Stanislavski Opera Theatre; and in 1941 the theatre merged with Nemirovich's music studio to become the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre. Nemirovich had created the Moscow Art Theatre Music Studio in 1919, though Stanislavski had no connection to it.

Stanislavski worked with his Opera Studio in the two rehearsal rooms of his house on Carriage Row (prior to his eviction in March 1921). His brother and sister, Vladimir and Zinaïda, ran the studio and also taught there. It accepted young members of the Bolshoi and students from the Moscow Conservatory. Stanislavski also invited Serge Wolkonsky to teach diction and Lev Pospekhin (from the Bolshoi Ballet) to teach expressive movement and dance. By means of his 'system,' Stanislavski aimed to unite the work of Mikhail Shchepkin and Feodor Chaliapin. He hoped that the successful application of his 'system' to opera, with its inescapable conventionality, would demonstrate the universality of his methodology. From his experience at the Opera Studio he developed his notion of "tempo-rhythm," which he was to develop most substantially in part two of An Actor's Work (1938). A series of thirty-two lectures that he delivered to this studio between 1919 and 1922 were recorded by Konkordia Antarova and published in 1939; they have been translated into English as On the Art of the Stage (1950). Pavel Rumiantsev—who joined the studio in 1920 from the Conservatory and sang the title role in its production of Eugene Onegin in 1922—documented its activities until 1932; his notes were published in 1969 and appear in English under the title Stanislavski on Opera (1975).

Music Studio
Nemirovich created the Moscow Art Theatre Music Studio in 1919. Its members included Sergey Obraztsov (who later joined the Second Moscow Art Theatre). Its first production was Charles Lecocq's La fille de Madame Angot, which opened in the summer of 1920.

Third Studio
The Third Studio was a school that Yevgeny Vakhtangov created in 1920. Vakhtangov—who died two years later—had been Stanislavski's student in the First Studio. He attempted to articulate the techniques of Vsevolod Meyerhold with Stanislavski's 'system.' Its members included Angelina Stepanova and Boris Zakhava. After Vakhtangov's death, Zakhava took over the studio's leadership. The studio severed its connection with the MAT in 1926 to became the Vakhtangov Theatre.

Fourth Studio
Stanislavski created the Fourth Studio in 1921. It later severed its connection with the MAT to become the Realistic Theatre in Moscow. From 1930 onwards it was headed by Vsevolod Meyerhold's former student, Nikolay Okhlopkov. Its members included the MAT actress Ye. M. Rayevskaya (1854-1952).

Opera-Dramatic Studio
Near the end of his life Stanislavski created an Opera-Dramatic Studio in his own apartment on Leontievski Lane (now known as "Stanislavski Lane"), under the auspices of which between 1935 and 1938 he offered a significant course in his 'system' in its final form.

Given the difficulties he had with completing his manual for actors, in 1935 while recuperating in Nice Stanislavski decided that he needed to found a new studio if he was to ensure his legacy. "Our school will produce not just individuals," he wrote, "but a whole company." In June he began to instruct a group of teachers in the training techniques of the 'system' and the rehearsal processes of the Method of Physical Action. The teachers had some previous experience studying the 'system' as private students of Stanislavski's sister, Zinaïda. His wife, Lilina, also joined the teaching staff. Twenty students (out of 3500 auditionees) were accepted for the dramatic section of the Opera-Dramatic Studio, where classes began on 15 November 1935. Its members included the future artistic director of the MAT, Mikhail Kedrov, who played Tartuffe in Stanislavski's unfinished production of Molière's play (which, after Stanislavski's death, he completed).

Jean Benedetti argues that the course at the Opera-Dramatic Studio is "Stanislavski's true testament." Stanislavski arranged a curriculum of four years of study that focused exclusively on technique and method—two years of the work detailed later in An Actor's Work on Himself and two of that in An Actor's Work on a Role. Once the students were acquainted with the training techniques of the first two years, Stanislavski selected Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet for their work on roles. He worked with the students in March and April 1937, focusing on their sequences of physical actions, on establishing their through-lines of action, and on rehearsing scenes anew in terms of the actors' tasks. By June 1938 the students were ready for their first public showing, at which they performed a selection of scenes to a small number of spectators.

Meyerhold's studios
From 1908 onwards, Meyerhold kept his experimental studio work and his public productions segregated.

Meyerhold's production of Arthur Schnitzler's pantomime Columbine's Scarf at the Story Theatre (Skazka) in 1910 was staged under the auspices of the "House of Interludes" (Dom intermedii), a studio that brought together actors, artists, composers and theatre directors from St Petersberg.

Studio on Borodinskaya Street in St Petersberg between 1913 and 1917.

Scrapboard
Need to look up "workshop" and "laboratory" in Harrison's book.

Need to look at Ian Watson Performer Training (in storage)