To the Actor: On the Technique of Acting

To The Actor is Michael Chekhov's acting methodology written in clear and practical steps. His technique has been a cornerstone of dramatic teaching for the past 80 years. Chekhov's students included notable actors such as Marilyn Monroe, Anthony Quinn, Clint Eastwood, and Dorothy Dandridge. Actors such as Johnny Depp, Jack Nicholson, and Anthony Hopkins, have stated his work to be a notable contribution to the success of their acting careers. Michael Chekhov's psycho-physical technique, or "Psychological Gesture," brings the abstract of the inner character's psychology to the concrete, allowing the actor to manifest the character through the physical. His approach creates a bridge between the inner emotional response elicited by a physical action and its outer expression. The clear and practical strategies aid actors who may have limited personal perspectives or experience to understand the truth of the character they are portraying. Chekhov was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia on August 29th, 1891, to Alexander Chekhov and Natayla Golden. He comes from a family of writers; his uncle was the great playwright Anton Chekhov who wrote many plays and is remembered for his four classics: Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and Cherry Orchard. In 1914, Michael Chekhov married his first wife Olga Chekhova, an actress, who he met at First Studio Moscow. Their daughter Ada Tschechowa was born in 1916 and later became a well-loved actress in Germany and Russia. In the early 1900's Chekhov studied at First Studio under the tutelage of Konstantin Stanislavsky [AE1] who created a methodology of acting called the Stanislavski-System or "the art of experiencing." Stanislavski regarded Chekhov as one of his most brilliant students. However, during Chekhov's training with Stanislavski, he suffered a nervous breakdown that he attributed to the failure of Stanislavski's "art of experiencing." After his recovery, Chekhov left First Studio and Stanislavski's training to pursue his own methodology. This led to his nomadic journey through Europe living in places such as Germany, Lithuania, Poland and England before finally settling in America in 1940. Stanislavski considered Chekhov's work in "To the Actor" to be a betrayal because it went against his primary teaching of emotional memory. Regardless, schools of theater continue to use the methods Chekhov developed in "To the Actor" well into the 21st century.