analysis of a play and role in action (method worked out by K. Stanislavsky during the last years of his life)
   Teacher: V.Shcheblikin (Russia)

   improvisation as a method of rehearsal
   Teacher: S.Ostrenko (Latvia)

   movement & dance
   Teacher: A.Andrianov (Russia)

   voice in Russian singing
   Teacher: I.Mickevich (Latvia)

   Trainers of the course are contemporary masters of Russian theatre tradition and outstanding theatre directors and teachers. This will be a unique opportunity for participants to work with experienced professionals in this branch of theatre. The participants are welcome to choose the extracts of A.P.Chekhov's stories and/or plays (in English) to work on during the course.

Creative Course

"The Actor's Technique"

Includes three major directions:

body training
voice training
developing of emotions.

   There is a plenty of methods to achieve the abovementioned goals, both traditional and modern ones. During the offered course the group participants will be introduced to the method of effective analysis of a play and a role developed by K. Stanislavsky at the end of his creative life when he rejected many own earlier ideas in this sphere. In particular, the system he had created earlier seemed to him too cumbersome and rational. Stanislavsky started experiments with sketch rehearsals. Unfortunately, death barred him from completion of this work. Michael Chekhov, great Russian actor and follower of Stanislavsky, continued study in the sphere of actor's technique and in the course of his teaching activity created, basing on experience gained during work in theatres of Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, France, England and America, his own method the pearl of which undoubtedly became the division "Improvisation". The Actor's Technique Course is scheduled for 3 weeks.

   Participants of the Course are offered to prepare a fragment from A.P. Chekhov's play or story in English language. The fragment should be integral, completed, and not very long; it should contain striking dramatic dialogues. The participants will have to choose the role in such fragment that they would like to play, as well as to be ready to act jointly as partners of other participants in their fragments. Each fragment will be rehearsed both by the Michael Chekhov's improvisation method (under guidance of Sergey Ostrenko) and by the Stanislavsky's effective analysis method (under guidance of Vladimir Shcheblikin). Besides, the participants will also have the opportunity to be introduced to the modern physical technique by Andrey Andrianov and the old Russian folk singing style under guidance of Inna Mitskevitch. At the end of the course we are going to show the produced fragments on the theatre scene. The study process and the performance will be filmed by video camera and the participants will receive the film (VHS) about the accomplished work.