Michael Chekhov International ConferenceWorkshops – Lectures – Speeches – Research

The Special Topic of the week will be the spiritual roots of his acting technique. Although well known, these are rarely the main focus when considering his work.

Michael Chekhov's methodical and practical insights on acting speak for themselves. Their unique ingenuity is clear to anyone studying them intensively. His deeper sources, however, are not always openly accessible. This has historical reasons and is also part of the biographical development of his acting technique.

During his time in Moscow, Michael Chekhov was very close to Andrei Bely. Through him, he became acquainted with eurythmy. Michael Chekhov describes his acquaintance with one of Rudolf Steiner's books in detail in his memoirs. He then studied anthroposophy and eurythmy in great depth, and in 1926 delved deeply into Steiner's “Dramatic Course” and thus also into speech formation. He worked on these topics throughout his life, thus developing his acting technique from a deeper spiritual source within himself.

The conference will take a closer, more detailed look at these sources.

Workshops, lectures and podium discussions will delve deeper into Chekhov’s sources and foundations and demonstrate their relevance to his acting technique.

The hope is to enable a further creative development of Chekhov's work, individually oriented towards those same sources, and to so allow a deeper understanding of it as a whole.

Michael Chekhov’s vision of a “theater of the future” has the “actor of the future” as its core, whose central endeavor is rooted in transformation. This transformation has as its goal, the humanistic culture of the future – shaped, in freedom, by the individual’s developed power of love. In this sense, Michael Chekhov accords theater and actors a great role in the process of shaping society now and into the future, a role that is being put to the test in modern culture: To be or not to be….

Internationally renowned workshop leaders and lecturers representing Chekhov studios from around the world will present their approach to Michael Chekhov and his sources.