November 2003
MICHA NEWS
A publication of the Michael Chekhov Association
www.michaelchekhov.org
Dearest Chekhov Community,
2003 has been a busy year! Many new faces as well as
old friends dedicated to the work have made MICHA’s successes possible.
Additions to our faculty are Peter Paul Gerbrands from
the Netherlands and Jobst Langhans from Germany. Jobst
hosted the first Chekhov workshop in Berlin in 1992 so it
was a special treat to hear him speak about how much the
work and interest in Chekhov has grown over the past 11
years. We have begun archiving some of the lectures and
classes so that as time passes we can recall the words and
memories that come with each gathering. These recordings
will be available at each workshop for your research and
enjoyment.
This year a scholarship was established in memory of
MICHA member and teacher trainee Marc Gordon. In
preparation for the American Theater in Higher Education
Conference Marc spent his last days of life developing his
understanding of the Chekhov work with MICHA colleagues
in Boston. Through the efforts of these same colleagues
and others, a memorial service was held during the workshop in Amsterdam. Upon our return it was arranged for
copies of To the Actor to be donated to various universities
in Marc’s name. I was touched by the phone calls, e-mails
and offers of generosity that came from the Chekhov community during this difficult time. I am reminded that in the 5
years since MICHA was formed, amidst warm-ups, rehearsals and kapustnik’s, our acting and teaching community has grown into a family.
Our family continues to grow. Having increased the number of workshops we offered from 2 to 3, we welcomed 77
new actors to our workshops! We also welcomed two new
people to our staff. As our development consultant, Kelly
Ellenwood is working hard to raise the matching funds for
production of the video series. And as the 2003-4 intern
Scott Mendelsohn assists in many ways only one of which
was to put together our second annual newsletter. Thank
you, Scott! We continue to receive the generous volunteer
hours of Morgan Gadd our web master, David Cohen our
yahoo list serve manager and Sam Sagenkahn our accountant.
In this newsletter you will see the details for our 2004
workshop events. This year the registration forms will only
be available on line at www.michaelchekhov.org. Since we
will not be printing our traditional brochure if you don't have
internet access and would like to register for one of the
events contact me directly and I will send you a print out.
I encourage those of you who haven't yet become a
member to join us by mailing in the membership form found
on page 7, and by sharing news with us of your work.
Best wishes for an inspired year!
MICHA News
Opening Doors at “The Meeting Point”
Dawn Arnold
Summer 2003
Dawn Arnold is an actress, director and teacher of theater in Chicago, IL. She is the Artistic Director of The Moving Dock Theatre
Company, which trains actors in the Chekhov technique and uses
this technique in an ensemble creative process to develop new
theatre pieces. She received a grant from the Kittredge Educational
Trust to study in MICHA’s Teacher Certification Program and was
granted her certification at the 2003 workshop in Amsterdam.
Six days. Six days to work on a character from the
Gombrowicz play, Princess Ivona. Six days to see
how the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique would
help us realize characters from this play.
This was the focus for MICHA’s International Workshop and Festival
2003. The event drew fifty-five students and eight master teachers of
the Chekhov Technique from
Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada,
Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Israel,
The Netherlands, the United
Kingdom, and the United
States. Hosted by and jointly
produced with MICHA by Tiny
Hero Productions
(Netherlands), “The Meeting
Point,” was a coming together in
warm-ups, classes, scene rehearsals and performances, as
well as meals and informal social hanging out. In the studios
and theatre space of Het Polanentheater, just outside central Amsterdam, we gathered
morning, afternoon and evening
to explore and learn from each
other. All the participants were
theatre practitioners - actors,
directors, teachers, producers
Students at “The Meeting Point”
and scholars. Some had little
experience with the technique while others had many years of study
and practice under their belts. The age range was wide - and truly irrelevant.
Photo by : Jessica Cerullo
From the Managing Director,
Jessica Cerullo
(Continued on page 5)
Inside
From the President.......................................................................... 2
NYC June Intensive, 2003 ............................................................... 3
The Element of Time in Cherry Orchard ........................................ 4
Chekhov’s Studios from Moscow to Hollywood ........................... 4
The Use of Archetype ..................................................................... 6
MICHA Membership ........................................................................ 7
Around the World ............................................................................ 8
www.michaelchekhov.org
MICHA Events, 2004........................................................................ 8p. 1
From the President, Joanna Merlin
Dear Friends,
It is warming to feel that Chekhov’s
efforts at making the actor three dimensional, artful and creatively happy are
now being heard and practiced more
than ever before in the US and in
Europe. It’s hard to believe that when
MICHA was founded in l999, we were
struggling to find a place to hold one
workshop a year, and were uncertain
whether we would find enough students
to fill the classes. Here is an encouraging
update since our last Newsletter.
In 2003, we held three workshops. The
teacher-training workshop in January in
Spencertown, NY doubled its participants
from last year. The first NYC workshop in
June registered 36 students. And in Amsterdam, we registered 55 students and
had a waiting list.
In May of this year, we were awarded a
grant by the Heritage / Preservation Fund
of the National Endowment for the Arts to
make six videos demonstrating the technique. In our economy these days, government grants are hard-won. Clearly,
the NEA recognized that, in passing on
Chekhov’s legacy, we were making an
important contribution to the technique of
acting. We are now in the process of applying to foundations and individuals to
raise matching funds of $30,000. Let us
know if you have ideas in support of this
project. In-kind contributions are also
credited, i.e. professional video equipMICHA News
ment, studio space, editing equipment,
lighting units, production assistance, etc.
Many of our participant/teachers who
have attended our workshops have incorporated the Chekhov technique in
their acting classes in high schools, colleges, universities and acting schools. In
some cases, their entire courses are
dedicated to teaching the technique.
Several have invited MICHA to use their
facilities to hold workshops at their universities, which we are hoping to do in
the near future.
We have just certified our second
teacher, Dawn Arnold. Congratulations,
Dawn! Dawn has written a report of our
workshop in Amsterdam in this issue. It
was great to have our first certified
teacher, Catherine Albers of Case Western Reserve University, teach with us in
Amsterdam. Your inventive warm ups got
many bravos, Cathy. I want to encourage
those of you who are teachers who have
become interested in the Chekhov work
to continue to develop as the need for
Michael Chekhov teachers continues to
grow.
Next July we will hold our international
workshop in Groznjan, Croatia. Groznjan
is a tiny, beautifully presented medieval
village on the top of a mountain. Living
accommodations are very limited, so if
you are interested, register as soon as
possible so as not to be disappointed!
I thought it would be of interest to read
Richard Kiley’s letter (on this page) written to me in response to my invitation to
join our newly formed Advisory Committee in 1999. Kiley was a brilliant actor
who loved the Chekhov technique; he
died five weeks after I received his letter.
Mrs. Kiley is generously supporting
MICHA.
Bravo to Marian Seldes for her article
on Michael Chekhov that appeared in the
July / August issue of American Theatre.
Listening once again to Chekhov’s
tapes this week, I was brought back to
the room in which I first heard him speaking to our group in Los Angeles in the
early 50’s. I remember the almost palpable feeling of having my imagination fly
open to new ideas, new tools, riches
within me that he tapped into with his
brilliance, insight and humor.
I heard something very clearly on the
tapes this time that I think we need to
emphasize in our work. It is the imporwww.michaelchekhov.org
January 25, l999
Dear Joanna,
Many thanks for your note re Michael Chekhov. Although I never worked with Michael, his
“To the Actor” was and is my bible as an actor.
I was on the Board of Beatrice Straight’s
school in N.Y. for some years—and recall talking to Anthony Hopkins about his hope of forming a London Chekhov group - (I don’t know if
it reached fruition.)
I’d be proud and happy to lend my name to
your Board. A few health problems preclude
my doing much more, but I honor any effort to
keep alive the teachings of that great man.
Warm regards,
Richard Kiley
tance that Chekhov places on
expressing ourselves through the
mask of character. We spend a great
deal of time in our workshops on the
imaginative means that lead to creating
the mask - to transforming ourselves. But
I was happy to be reminded of his advice
in making the connection between actor
and character. He stresses bringing our
humanity to the character. I do think we
make some of these human connections
instinctively, but bringing the idea to our
consciousness may open other doors.
Thanks to Mala Powers, we are fortunate
to have his voice on the tapes (reissued
as CDs this month). They ring out with
his belief in the deep and unending ability
of actors to go beyond their everyday
selves, to transform, to become artists.
My warmest regards to all of you,
p. 2
New York City June Intensive, 2003
Scott Mendelsohn
like to work with Chekhov himself.
Over the course of the next two days,
we broke into groups exploring aspects
of the technique. Tools covered included
the Four Brothers, the four qualities of
movement, expansion and contraction,
psychological gesture, and the use of
imaginary centers and bodies. I was familiar with all these tools; the master
teachers, however, guided me from the
more obvious external physical form of
The recent Intensive Weekend at NYU
the exercises, to a deeper understanding
marked my first event as a MICHA memof inner movement and radiation. After
ber. I first encountered Chekhov’s work
moving with a molding quality, or experi10 years ago in a class taught by MICHA
menting with penetrating gestures and
Board Member Robert Cole. Since then I
various imaginary centers, I saw how it
have studied with Chekhov teachers as I
would eventually become a instantanecould, but have spent much more time
ous action; I would need only to think of
working on my own from Chekhov’s
them, and my body would respond with
books. The occasions where I have acthe appropriate qualities. And if I was
complished something deep in performfrustrated by an exercise, I could pause
ance have all involved my use of the
and watch my fellows work for a
technique. Yet when I talk to
The
July/August
edition
of
new approach.
colleagues about Michael
American Theatre featured an
We were fortunate to be visited by
Chekhov and the work, I often
article written by Marian Seldes
some illustrious guests. We were
receive blank stares in reabout the reissue of Michael
joined on Friday night by Anna
Chekhov's
To
The
Actor.
We
sponse. My arrival at the openwere thrilled to have Ms. Seldes Minot, who had studied with Cheking session of the June weekvisit MICHA during our June intensive at NYU; she had this to say about hov at Ridgefield, CT. And the wonend was accompanied by a
the work that is being accomplished.
derful actress Marian Seldes visited
wave of relief; I entered a room "The concepts, the dreams and the realities of
us as well, having just written an
full of people who had come
Michael Chekhov that illuminated his productions, article for American Theatre about
from places as distant as Calihis writings and his classes, are being carried for- the reissue of To The Actor (see
fornia, Denmark, England and
ward
with beautiful strength and clarity by MICHA, sidebar).
Puerto Rico to look for what
the
Michael
Chekhov Association. The teaching is The final gathering was emotional.
Chekhov describes in To The
inspired
and
inspiring. Chekhov's great spirit lives Some students were bubbling over
Actor as “the joy of unselfish,
with enthusiasm. Another spoke of a
in their classrooms."
common creation” (p. 35.)
previous MICHA workshop that had
By way of introduction at the
left
her
feeling frustrated by the work; by
in her imagination. Psychological gessession, each of the faculty spoke about
the
end
of the weekend she was glad to
ture
gives
form
to
images
simply
and
an aspect of the technique that most
have
returned.
I was surprised to find
powerfully.
And
Mala
quoted
Chekhov,
excited them. While all agreed that it
myself
choked
up
at the weekend’s end.
emphasizing
that
we
have
everything
was impossible to reduce the richness of
The work had been demanding, but it
within us, that we don’t need to go out
the technique to one aspect, some
had also been a long time since I had
somewhere else to find it.
themes did emerge in the discussion.
felt so supported in my efforts to stretch
On Friday night Mala, the executrix of
Both Lenard Petit and Ted Pugh emphamyself as an actor.
Chekhov’s literary estate, presented a
sized the practicality of Chekhov’s apslide
show
about
his
life,
offering
the
MICHA
proach to psychophysical work. Ted
ways in which her studies with Chekspoke of the difficulty he had of working
NYC June Intensive Participants
hov had provided a beacon throughout
on an objective, until the Chekhov work
UK: Jerri Daboo California: Hugh O' Gorman Connecticut:
her own varied career. Throughout this
gave him something to do. At that point,
James Luse, Linda MacCluggage, Katherine MacCluggage,
theatre stopped being intellectual for him session, and her teaching sessions,
Sarah Tames Illinois: Deborah Robertson Massachusetts:
Vanessa Kobran, Sharon Wyrrick Michigan: Mary Job New
and became gestural. Lenard wryly com- Mala worked to invoke the spirit ChekHampshire: Michael Littman New Jersey: Leslie Burnsmented on his frustration with Strasberg- hov had offered her in her studies with
Patient, Maggie Surovell New York: Andy Allis, Meghan
him. Her manner was gentle and goodinfluenced studies, as his healthy childAstracan, Erica Bailey, Michael Benjamin, John Capalbo,
Bethany Caputo, Dan Colman, Suzanne Frazer, Leah
humored, but also clear, firm and genhood and unusually loving parents had
Garland, Donna Heffernan, James Mack, Scott Mendelsohn,
erous
as
she
helped
students
expand
deprived him of the personal trauma that
Scott Reynolds, Louise Rosager, Emmett Smith, Michael
beyond their previous limits. Combined
Smith, Lenny Williams, Alison Wright Ohio: Susan Lucier
other techniques seemed to require of
Pennsylvania: Mel Schrawder Puerto Rico: Axel Serrant
with her stories, these moments sughim. Once he started working with conTexas: Bryan Peterson Washington, DC: Katarina
gested to me what it must have been
crete images in a psycho-physical way,
Benuskova
Scott Mendelsohn is a
Brooklyn-based actor and
singer. He has studied the
Chekhov work at the
Eugene O’Neill Theatre
Center, the Actor’s Center,
worked with the Chekhov
Theatre Ensemble, and
appeared in Match with
David and Bryan Cohen’s
“Michael Chekhov Project.” Other credits include
the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and HERE.
MICHA News
he was free to create in performance.
Dorothy Emmerson and Fern Sloan
both emphasized the expansion of possibilities that come from working out of
the imagination. Fern experienced
Chekhov’s technique as a path to
transformation, contained within exercises that she can practice, like scales
for a musician. Dorothy spoke of the
freedom that came from using her
imagination to fill the space, both as an
actor and a singer. In an optional session later, she talked further about the
ways she uses the technique as a concert soloist.
Finally, both Joanna Merlin and Mala
Powers emphasized that Chekhov’s
work serves to unlock what already
resides within the actor. Joanna spoke
of her relief when Chekhov helped her
realize she could explore the character
www.michaelchekhov.org
p. 3
The Element of Time in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard
Photo by Bill Whipple
This year we remember MICHA member and teacher trainee
Marc Gordon who passed away July 12, 2003. Liked and respected by all, he was an artist and teacher whose spirit lives on
in all those he met and taught.
Central to the setting, mood, relationships and characterizations in The Cherry Orchard is the passing of time. Issues
concerning old vs. new, the old aristocracy vs. the new
working class, and the past conflicted with the present and
future, provide the basis for the drama in this, Anton Chekhov’s last play.
Chekhov’s plays constantly remind us of the inevitable
passage of time. Act changes often signal seasonal
changes over which the characters have no control; they
can do little more than react. The cherry orchard itself represents a tangle of sentiments inextricably linked to a way of
life that has become a thing of the past. The orchard sym-
bolizes servitude and repression as well as its ultimate abolition. It stands for Ranevskaya's former innocence and Lopakhin's lucrative future and while the orchard represents flowering growth and a promising future, it also signifies stasis and
ultimately stagnation.
“Each character is involved in a struggle to remember, but
more importantly, in a struggle to forget certain aspects of their
past.” It is these contrapuntal or contradictory “aspects” that
lead toward rich and varied characterizations laden with subtext. Ranevskaya is attempting to escape her present despair
brought on by an insincere lover in Paris; however, the orchard
is both rejuvenating and, at the same time, laden with the sadness over the loss of her husband and son. Lopakhin remembers Ranevskaya’s kindness to him as a boy but these memories are overwhelmed by his brutal treatment at the hands of
his peasant father. His new identity as a successful businessman and member of the intelligentsia only superficially occludes his uncultured peasant upbringing. Trofimov is more
concerned with forgetting the ugly, oppressive past, and insists
on the need to work toward the future of new industrial Russian society; for all his criticism of the past and call to arms of
the future, one cannot help but feel Trofimov will be the last to
lift a finger toward Russian society’s reconstruction.
All characters are in social flux. Ranevskaya, her brother
Gaev, daughter Anya, and foster daughter Varya, appear to be
losing their security and, consequently, social status while Lopakhin, Yepikhodev, Yasha and Dunyasha (servants and former peasants) have either achieved or are attempting to elevate their social standing. With the clash of their unsettled
stratification, Chekhov’s characters contribute to a life mosaic,
each fighting for air, and each attempt is futile. First, the 87
year-old family servant Yepikhodev is a composite of the past
Chekhov’s Studios from Moscow to Hollywood
Liisa Byckling lives in Finland, and works as
a researcher and teacher at the Helsinki
University. Her book Michael Chekhov in
Western Theatre and Cinema was published
in St. Petersburg in 2000 in Russian in cooperation with the Alexander Institute, University of Helsinki (560 pp). It was accepted as a
Ph.D. dissertation by the Faculty of Arts,
University of Helsinki. The research methods
for the book required assembling extensive
information from all the countries where
Chekhov worked as well as looking into directorial projects, periodical reviews, personal interviews and rare books. Sharon
Marie Carnicke, Professor of Theatre at the University of Southern California
wrote in her report on the book: "Remarkable as well is the ability of Ms
Byckling to organize this mass of information into an elegant chronological
tale... As such, the book will become an invaluable resource to scholars who
wish to examine any aspect of Chekhov's work." The book is being translated into English, and some chapters will appear in theatre journals next
year.
The Moscow Art Theatre and Konstantin Stanislavsky´s
teaching laid the foundation for Chekhov's future explorations. Already in the private Chekhov Studio in Moscow
(1918-1922) the actor found ways to induce a mood that allows for creative work using various techniques. He aimed at
MICHA News
Marc Gordon
Liisa Byckling
creating a feeling of truth and arousing the actor's fantasy by
means of improvisation and atmosphere. Chekhov used exercises based on yoga: techniques of observation, concentration and communication. Chekhov applied ways of arousing
the "life energy" of the actor. He also used exercises of communication, in which actors send and receive energy rays,
not words. He adapted meditation techniques such as visualization, meaning that the actor creates a "filmstrip" of mental
images from the character's life. Chekhov warns that all devices must be imbued with inner content and meaning; they
should not become mere technical exercises.
Michael Chekhov is called the most genial actor of the last
century in Russia. One of his major roles in the Moscow Art
Theatre was Khlestakov in Gogol´s The Government Inspector (directed by Stanislavsky in 1921). Chekhov the actor embodied the complete synthesis of inner feeling and outer
form, which the American director Robert Lewis called "total
acting".
In 1923 when the First Studio became the Second Moscow
Art Theatre Chekhov became its director. He created an alternative theatre which used symbolic means of expression.
His interpretation of Hamlet shook the public. Reasons for
www.michaelchekhov.org
p. 4
(Continued from page 1) “The Meeting Place”
The nucleus of it all was the particular approach - the acting
technique - of Michael Chekhov. We might be returning home to
direct or to teach, others perhaps to write a doctoral thesis dissertation, but while here, we were all engaged as actors. Participants were grouped according to experience. Beginning and
continuing students worked on gaining a solid understanding of
the principles of the technique. These are taught through class
exercises that allowed each actor to work on their own, in the
company of their colleagues, under the guidance of a team of
teachers. The advanced class was organized into ensembles
which spent the week applying the technique to scenes. The
teachers rotated among all the groups.
In the evenings we had the Festival of performances. This
year the performances included Murder, Madness and Lady
Macbeth, performed by Marjolein Baars (Tiny Hero Productions), Pieces of Life, performed by Assen Karanikolov (The Bulgarian Michael Chekhov Foundation), Anton Chekhov’s Swan
Song, performed by Jobst Langhans and Andreas Loos
(Werkbühne Berlin), as well as a delightful Clown Workshop led
by Lenard Petit and an evening devoted to an inspiring panel
discussion by the teachers about their experiences with Michael
Chekhov and his technique.
photo by Jessica Cerullo
and present, and unlike the others, has no interest in improving or even maintaining his position in life; he simply exists in
the moment. For all of the characters ”[t]ime will be alive onstage, and the characters will seem human milestones.”
Chekhov’s Orchard inhabitants are on a continuum, it
seems, aggressively or passively advancing on the future
and, though they try, ultimately they are powerless to dictate
the policy of their future. However, the characters are bursting inside, driven and sustained by an inner energy that can
be deeply felt. Yet when this energy is expressed, it often
appears either miscalculated or misdirected resulting in the
farcical aspects of Chekhovian performance. It is on this continuum, that today's exercises with The Cherry Orchard, in
concert with the Michael Chekhov technique, will proceed.
The Michael Chekhov acting technique is a simple and
practical approach connecting the actor's body, imagination
and psychology and providing a path to what Michael Chekhov called “creative individuality.”
Michael Chekhov is considered by many, the greatest actor
of the twentieth century. His ability to transform, to appear to
inhabit the characters he portrayed, has resulted in this legendary status. Though a pupil of Stanislavsky at the Moscow
Art Theatre and Sulerzhitsky at the First Studio, Chekhov developed a technique that emphasized the possibilities of the
imagination rather than focusing on personal experience - the
essence of Stanislavsky's early work. Chekhov considered
the actor's own past reductive and limiting; the performer who
tapped the creative spirit of the imagination could produce
infinite characterizations, with each performance fresh and
original. Indeed Chekhov once announced, “If the system of
Stanislavsky is high school, then my exercises are university.” Stanislavsky and Chekhov agreed, however, that acting
is psycho-physical; that in every physical action there is
something psychological and in the psychological something
physical. MICHA
Tarja Nyberg and Steven Beersman at “The Meeting Point”
Chekhov's emigration were both political and personal: his
ideas were not compatible with Communist ideology and he left
Soviet Russia in 1928.
It has been said that Chekhov lived a double exile, separated
from his homeland and from his theatre. However, with amazing tenacity he worked to develop the theatre of the future,
which meant creating a new technique of acting in a theatre
with a repertoire based on the classics and folklore. For the
rest of his life he directed several studios through which he disseminated his ideas as actor-director-teacher. During the great
artistic pilgrimage Chekhov was building a spiritual home for
people from many different countries and nations.
Chekhov underwent four separate developments in his lifetime: (1) the celebrated acting career in Moscow, (2) the period
of "wandering" in Berlin, Paris, Riga and Kaunas (1928-35); (3)
the period of the Anglo-American Theatre Studio, (1936-42);
and, finally, (4) the Hollywood career (1943-55). He taught improvisation exercises and gave lectures on acting at The
Drama Society in Hollywood. Numerous film actors went to him
for help with their specific roles and for their general acting development.
Robert Lewis mentions Chekhov's quote which he used often
afterwards: "The highest point of our art is reached when we
are burning inside and command complete outer ease at the
same time." MICHA
This year, my fourth International Workshop, I had the pleasure to participate in the advanced group. We had the task of
organizing into scene groups, choosing the scenes we wanted
to do from the Gombrowicz play, and finding our own way in the
scene work. Since Chekhov’s technique is for actors, it made
sense that actors, sans director, would test the value of the technique in how it enabled our ability. We were invited to utilize the
expertise of the teachers to help us in this discovery period.
Each day we could choose to involve one or more of the teachers in our rehearsals. In the true spirit of ensemble: we were
actors working together.
The Chekhov technique offers the actor many doors through
which they can begin to grasp the essence of their character
and the play as a whole. Each one of these “doors” can give the
actor an immediate felt experience of the character and lead to a
chain reaction of many other discoveries. Examples of these
“doors” are: the character’s center, the quality of the character’s
movement, the essence of the character brought out through
their psychological gesture, the atmosphere that surrounds the
character, and the tempo of the scene.
In my ensemble, we focused on a sequence of three short
scenes. We had read the first scene a few times and knew that
the next step was to turn to one of our “doors.” We took to our
feet and began individually to look for the appropriate center for
the character. Was it in the head? In the stomach? In the heart?
(Continued on page 7)
MICHA News
www.michaelchekhov.org
p. 5
The Archetype is the Will Force of the Character
The dictionary defines archetype as the prototype, the type from which all types derive. One could say that it is
the biggest possible picture of something which contains smaller
ideas revolving within it. A clear example would be the idea of the
cat as archetype. It is very easy to see that a lion, a tiger, a leopard,
and a lynx are each different animals, but there is no denying that all
are cats. The archetype of cat is able to hold all of them collectively
while not diminishing the fact that each is at the same time individual. If we were studying these animals it would make our work a bit
easier to view them first as cats then as lions, tigers, leopards, and
lynxes.
The pioneering psychologist Carl Jung had very much to say
about the impact that archetypes as collective images have on the
human psyche. His work and the work of his followers is dense and
illuminating. Suffice it to say that these specific images have found
their way into the lives of human beings across different cultures.
The images reside within us in a place Jung has named the collective unconscious. Cultural history has poured itself into this collective
unconscious, it is a region within the human psyche that is active,
yet hardly in our conscious control.
The ideas about acting developed by Michael Chekhov rely very
heavily on this idea of collective energies. We find, through exercise
and practice, that we can expect specific responses to certain images. If a room full of actors is asked to create a large movement of
the physical body that could express the archetype of the hero
clearly and succinctly, we would see that virtually everyone in the
room will move more or less in the same way. Heroes are everywhere in history, in all the great literature, from David slaying Goliath, to Luke Skywalker defeating the evil Empire. This image lives in
us, and we do respond to it by moving the body. The direction that
the body is compelled to move in is of particular importance to us. In
the room of actors moving we will see that the actual gestures created by the actors will differ from each other, this having very much
to do with the individual making the movement, but all of these
movements will be in a forward and upward direction because this
is a collective response to the energy of this archetype. The direction the movement wants to go in holds the useful information for
the actor, because he can rely on it as a living truth. If I move in this
direction there is information for me to take and use, and also, if I
witness the movement as a spectator I understand something about
what is going on. This understanding is not conscious, it is felt.
When looking at Michael Chekhov’s system one is struck by its
simplicity, its lack of intellectual or analytical substance. We see a
few simple multifunctional tools supported by clear principles. This is
so because he teaches us to use larger trans-personal ideas as
source material to build our work upon. When we address the archetypes, they lead us to what is called the Psychological Gesture.
The technique is not a linear A to B process. We do not have to
start at the beginning because the beginning and the end are the
same, namely, inspired acting. This is what he was seeking in developing it. Everything in it adds up to One, each piece of it stands
MICHA News
alone, and at that same time touches all the other pieces. When it is
taken up by a talented actor, one particular tool begins to make connections with other tools that have been engaged during rehearsals.
It’s a matter of applied energy traveling on different circuits, each
vibrating in sympathy with one source. Using archetypes as dynamic vibrating energies, our task is to set up a condition within ourselves so that we can have sympathetic vibrations to them. These
are honestly felt things by the actor, real food for artistic self expression.
In Chekhov’s own words: “All you experience in the course of your
life, all you observe and think, all that makes you happy or unhappy,
all your regrets or satisfactions, all your love or hate, all you long for
or avoid, all your achievements and failures, all you brought with
you into this life at birth, your temperament, abilities, inclinations etc.,
all are part of the region of your unconscious depths. There being
forgotten by you, or never known to you they undergo the process
of being purified of all egotism. They become feelings per se. Thus
purged and transformed, they become part of the material from
which your Individuality creates the psychology, the illusory “soul” of
the character.” (from To The Actor)
Photo by : Jessica Cerullo
Lenard Petit is a director and actor in New York City.
He is a core member of the Theater Arts Faculty at
Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.
He is the Artistic Director of The Michael Chekhov
Acting Studio, which offers on-going classes in New
York City and has taught at numerous MICHA workshops. This essay is excerpted from a book Lenard
is writing on the practical application of Michael Chekhov's Acting Technique.
Lenard Petit
Bryan Cohen and other students at “The Meeting Point”
The archetypes are how the unconscious can communicate to the
conscious, and the body is the medium of this communication. We
can also take the process in reverse; by making a Psychological
Gesture that corresponds to an archetype we can touch the vibration within the unconscious resulting in an excitation of the conscious. This is essentially Michael Chekhov acting technique.
To work on movement in this way has a few benefits: It leads the
actor towards making very defined and delineated movements
which are aesthetically pleasing to watch and to execute, it also
encourages a feeling for form, but most importantly it trains us to
move what Chekhov calls the inner gesture. The Psychological
Gesture must in the end become an inner gesture. It is found with
the physical body, it corresponds to the archetype and is archetypal
in its form, but this gesture is never shown to the public. It must become an inner gesture, an archetypal image that is in Chekhov’s
words, “a crystallization of the will forces of the character.”
To find the correct archetype as a model for the character is very
simple, it requires neither analysis nor speculation. We must read
the play and make a list of the deeds done by the character in the
course of the play. It is through what has been accomplished that
we can understand an individual. Aristotle said that a man is the
sum total of his actions. When we speak of actions here we must
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not confuse them with Stanislavsky’s objective, or the actions
played by the actor to achieve the objective, nor his idea of physical
actions; we must stick to the facts given by the author within the
finite world of the play. We can call them deeds done. If we make a
list of these deeds we will be able to draw a defining conclusion
about the character, it is a thread connecting these deeds one to the
other, and this thread is the archetype.
The actor does not enter the stage screaming the archetype,
rather he feeds upon it and easily reflects it in all his behavior.
Chekhov did not recommend that the actor present the archetype
as the character. The archetype has too much power as an image
and is not a clearly defined character, in fact actors presenting only
archetypes in their performance appear strong but blurry, general,
and quickly lose interest for us because nothing can unfold, it is
merely force thrown out. It can be astonishing for a short duration,
and can perhaps be useful in a stylistic or formalistic fashion. It is not
the thing itself that interests us, but the type of will force it has. Consciously or unconsciously this is what the author has built the character upon, it is the energy behind the sum total of his deeds. This
approach to seizing the essence of the character is quick and direct;
it is, as Chekhov says, “the first clear bell we ring for the character.”
This image must be seen as a vital food for the actor to feed upon
during rehearsals. Through rehearsal it becomes known directly into
the body because the body creates the Psychological Gesture for
the archetype thereby experiencing directly the vibration of this energy.
The really wonderful thing about working with the archetype is that
the creative individuality of the actor is given something it can sink
its teeth into. Each actor will respond to his own image, and each
actor will know when she has arrived at the image that will serve
her. Some clear confirmation will present itself as if to say “this is the
image to work with.” A kind of bell will sound within. The real purpose of working with the archetype is to find a synthesis of all the
disparate elements before us. Something must hold it all together,
one guiding principle, one feeling of the whole that makes it possible
to act. MICHA
(Continued from page 5) “The Meeting Place”
Was it sharp? Or slinky? Or quivering? Rather than intellectual
discussion, we were seeking an answer that would come to us
as a feeling, the language actors instinctively speak.
The effect of our exploration with the center was recognizable
characters. We saw the King, the Queen, the Chamberlain and
the Outsider, as we improvised two-character encounters for
each other. We discovered the inherent comedy. That comedy
needed a tempo that would bring its energy to life. Simply, we
realized that we needed to “go faster.” How fast? A new image
appeared to me just then. I saw a cart careening down a hill, out
of control. I saw my character in it.
This was now the last day, the last hour, of the workshop.
There would be a presentation in a few minutes of the work of all
the various classes and scene ensembles. There is simply no
substitute for testing an acting method than to act in front of an
audience.
Our moment came and what was left for us to do but to trust
the technique. From my angle, this was what I knew I had to take
on stage with me:
• a feeling of the character stirred by a psychological gesture
and center
• an awakened awareness of how to radiate that essence
• a sensitivity to giving and receiving with my fellow actors
• a structure related to the text and the text itself
• a sense of tempo
MICHA News
The Meeting Point, Michael Chekhov Conference, July 2003
Participants—Belgium: Ruud Alles, Steven Beersmans, Erik De Backer,
Silvia Platzer, Griet Spanhove, Jean-Michel van den Eede, Filip
Vandemeulebroecke, Wim Verbeke, Ingrid Vreke Bulgaria: Eva Gyurova,
Kliment Kirov, Assen Karanikolov Canada: Cynthia Ashberger, Brent Carver,
Lionel Walsh Croatia: Vanja Matujec Juricic, Sanja Vejnovic Mecava
Denmark: Lene Kobbernagel Finland: Mia Hafrén, Niklas Häggblom, MarjoRiikka Mäkelä, Tarja Nyberg, Åsa Salvesen Germany: Sabine Liedtke,
Andreas Loos, Ulrich Meyer-Horsch, Elke Sandler Israel: Jonathan Uziel
Italy: Enrica Dal Zio Switzerland: Camille Bierens de Haan, Nadine Schwitter
the Netherlands: Tonnie Brounts, Maria Fernandez, Hans Koops, Maartje de
Laat, Charlotte Langemeijer, Corina Lintjens, Linde Löbert, Xandra
Schipperheijn, Petulia van Tiggelen, Ard Volkers United Kingdom: You-Ri
Yamanaka USA: Dawn Arnold, Meg Bussert, Jessica Cerullo, Bryan Cohen,
David H. Cohen, Douglas Davidson, Mary Gen Fjelstad, Joe Mills, Mark
Monday, Tom Provenzano, Michael Rosengart
Faculty—Germany: Ragnar Freidank, Jobst Langhans The Netherlands:
Marjolein Baars, Peter Paul Gerbrands UK: Sarah Kane USA: Joanna Merlin,
Lenard Petit, Cathy Albers
Observers—Germany: Mareille Ann Bahner USA: Debra-Lee Garren
We took our tools, the work of six days, and we played. We
found the giving and receiving with each other extended out into
the audience. That energy bounced from character to character,
character to audience, volleying in the space. Our characters led
us, surprised us with their vivid presence on stage. The techniques were there for us - solid anchors and liberating forces. In
only six days.
It is no little thing to call people together like this; to open doors
for them artistically, professionally and personally. These gatherings also help us to realize that we are not isolated in our artistic
aspirations. At the evening session where the teachers shared
their experiences, I was impressed by how each teacher had
championed this teaching in their respective communities. Yet,
that night, surrounded by more than sixty other individuals interested in learning and teaching this method, they surely couldn’t
any longer feel alone. MICHA
MEMBERSHIP
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Chekhov’s Artistic Vision with the work of actors, directors and teachers around the world. Members receive:
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• Organizations receive all member benefits. They may choose any two
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Mail membership form and check to:
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www.michaelchekhov.org
p. 7
MICHA Events, 2004
Around the World
CANADA—S. J. Burton is teaching the Chekhov work at University of
Toronto, Mississauga Campus.
Teacher Certification Workshop
In Spencertown, New York in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains.
January 2 - January 6, 2004
$625 non member, $600 member
Fees include classes, lunch and dinner
Registration Deadline: November 24, 2003
Housing can be arranged for an additional $60 per night.
FACULTY: Scott Fielding, Ragnar Freidank, Joanna Merlin, Lenard Petit
Weekend Intensive
In New York City at New York University
June 11-13, 2004
$285 non members, $260 members
Registration deadline May 21, 2004
*early registration recommended.
Workshop begins Friday at 7 p.m. and ends Sunday at 6 p.m.
International Michael Chekhov Workshop and Festival
In Groznjan, Croatia, presented in cooperation with Zagreb University’s
Imaginary Academy
July 3 - 12, 2004
FACULTY: Sarah Kane, Jobst Langhans, Joanna Merlin, Ted Pugh,
Fern Sloan, David Zinder
Fee: $800 non member, $775 member
Fees include classes, lunch and dinner
Registration begins Nov. 1 for members, December 1 for non-members
Housing can be arranged for $30-$60 per night.
• Registration for the workshop will be July 3 from 3-5 p.m.
• There will be one full day off on July 8.
• The workshop will end late in the evening on July 11.
• The nearest airport to Groznjan is in Trieste, Italy.
• Departure to the Trieste Airport will be the morning of July 12.
CHINA—Morgan Gadd is teaching acting at the Open Institute of International Education (part of Upper Iowa University) in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
DENMARK—Lene Kobbernagel will publish a book consisting of a series of interviews with Danish Actors and the techniques they employ. She will also publish an
article in the Teater1 based on interviews she conducted at 2003 MICHA workshops.
FINLAND—Liisa Bicklying will publish "Michael Chekhov's Production of Twelfth
Night in the Habimna Theatre in Berlin, 1931" in Assaph, the Israeli journal for theatre
research, in 2004. Her shorter article on Michael Chekhov and the concept of bodyand-soul in the actor's work will appear in the Body Art-Congress papers in 2004,
published by the University of Krakow, Poland
UK—Dionysia Productions and the Michael Chekhov Centre UK have joined forces to
begin a series of Chekhov Acting classes in London, facilitated by Graham Dixon.
USA—Chicago—Scott Fielding has formed MCASC, the Michael Chekhov Actors
Studio Chicago, and offers a full course in the Chekhov technique.
Dawn Arnold of the Moving Dock Theatre Company in Chicago has begun offering
classes in conjunction with her theater company.
Los Angeles—The Michael Chekhov Studio U.S.A. West, Jack Colvin, Artistic Director, mounted a production of Two Outs, Bottom of the Ninth, written by Vince
McKewin and directed by Jack Colvin, at the NoHo (North Hollywood) Arts Festival in
April. Plans are under way to produce the play on digital video for distribution on
cable and other media.
New York—Brian and David Cohen continue to organize workshops and performances through their Michael Chekhov Project. They presented an evening of new
plays in October at the Sande Shurin Theater.
Lisa Terezakis shot the film Duane Incarnate in the summer of 2003.
Washington, DC—Andrei Malaev-Babel and Sarah Kane of the Stanislavsky Theater Studio have established a one-year training program in conjunction with the theater. MICHA member Marjo-Rikka Makela is a student. Ragnar Freidank, will direct
the students in a production in the Spring of 2004. Joe Mills and Jessica Cerullo will
also teach.
For detailed info about each consult the MICHA links page on the website.
MICHA
PO Box 20168
New York, NY 10014 USA
202.841.5141
www.michaelchekhov.org
BOARD of DIRECTORS
Joanna Merlin
Sarah Kane
Lenard Petit
Jessica Cerullo
Marjolein Baars
Robert Cole
Andrei Malaev-Babel
Ted Pugh
George C. White
Sims Wyeth
ADVISORY BOARD
Deirdre Hurst du Prey
Jimmy Smits
Patricia Neal
President
Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary
Mala Powers
Robert Stack
Groznjan, Croatia—site of MICHA’s
2004 International Workshop
MICHA News
www.michaelchekhov.org
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