150th Anniversary of Stanislavsky

The celebration, held in partnership with the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, assembled an esteemed panel of scholars and practitioners to highlight the relationship between Strasberg and Stanislavsky’s work and their enduring influence on the American theatre.

The panel included Sergei Tcherkasski (Head of the Acting Studio at the St. Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy, Russia), David Chambers (Professor of Directing at the Yale School of Drama), Louis Scheeder (Arts Professor/Director of the Classical Studio and Associate Dean of Faculty at NYU:Tisch School of the Arts), and Robert Ellermann (Stanislavsky Scholar and Acting Teacher at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute).

Together these scholars dispelled some of the many myths about the Stanislavsky legacy, including that he abandoned the affective memory work in pursuit of a technique based entirely on actions. This point was uniquely supported by a previously unheard recording of an Actors Studio session featuring Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg and Robert Lewis (and other members of the studio) discussing the Moscow Art Theatre, Stanislavsky’s work and the unique differences in performances between the 1923 and 1925 tours to New York City. A highlight of the evening, the recording also showed the deep respect these teachers had for one another. Both of which were witnessed by Strasberg.

Guests enjoyed a cocktail reception and a special program featuring a reprinted copy of Lee Strasberg’s original speech to the 1963 delegation in Moscow.