Michael Chekhov’s Pedagogy from Europe to America, Volume I: Discovering a Holistic Dramatic Method: 1 (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)

This study describes and applies the pedagogical method of the actor, director, and dramatic theorist, Michael Chekhov (1891-1955), as a unique phenomenon in the broader context of modern theatre history. This volume shows how Chekhov took the principles he learned as a student and then as a colleague of Konstantin Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theatre and developed them into a new humanistic and holistic dramatic method.Chekhov emphasized images, imagination, psycho-physical acting, a sense of spiritual grounding, ease, centers, atmospheres, and specific techniques that have become famous, such as Psychological Gesture.Chekhov’s method found notable followers in his lifetime and continued to thrive after his death, not only onstage and in films and television, but also in classes taught by his disciples.Volume One provides a historical background, sets Chekhov’s pedagogy in the context of his artistic career describes the basic elements of Chekhov’s method in relation to those of Sta