2-18-04
BY JOLENE TURNER
Julie Douglas, Alison Logan, Helen Young, Alice Lee and Kyla Brundage rehearsing for Moving Dock's Bare Bones Project.
That is one of the ways in which students describe the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique—teachings that emphasize the psychophysical approach through the use of the imagination.
While not vastly well known in the performance community, the technique does have a steady and dedicated following.
The Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA) in New York is dedicated to furthering the work of Michael Chekhov through workshops and membership benefits. Theatre and film notables such as Jimmy Smits, Patricia Neal, Julie Taymor and Anne Bogart sit on MICHA's board. Late actors Robert Stack and Gregory Peck were also on the board. Other notable actors that praise Chekhov's technique include Anthony Hopkins, Jack Nicholson and Johnny Depp.
In Chicago, Checkhov's technique is being spread by Scott Fielding of Alchymia Theatre Company and Dawn Arnold of Moving Dock, both of whom are certified MICHA teachers.
"When I found it, all the pieces fell into place," says Arnold, who has been studying performance, training and theatre for the past 25 years. "I thought, 'This is it' and knew it was my life now.'"
Chekhov: Actor and Innovator
Nephew of playwright Anton Chekhov, Michael Chekhov, born in 1891 embraced the theatrical world he was born into by studying performance, eventually being taught by Constantin Stanislavsky, who considered Chekhov to be his most brilliant student. He went on to become one of Russia's most famous and respected actors. Before the revolution of 1917, Chekhov ran the second Moscow Art Theater Studio. But Communists found his work too "alien and reactionary," according to the MICHA website, and he was asked to leave the country.
For the next eight years Chekhov traveled around Europe, acting, teaching and directing, but could still not fully express himself because of politics. In 1936, actress Beatrice Straight invited him to open the Chekhov Theatre Studio at Dartington Hall in England. It is here he really began to teach his technique. In 1939, due to the threat of war, the studio relocated to Connecticut, but ultimately disbanded because its male members were drafted.
Already in America and with his technique beginning to make waves, Chekhov moved to Hollywood, where he acted in films, published his first major book, "To The Actor" and became an acting coach to numerous Hollywood icons, including Peck, Gary Cooper, Leslie Caron, Jack Palance, Ingrid Bergman and Marilyn Monroe, to name a few. His studio was known as The Drama Society. Chekhov died in 1955, before his work became widely known.
Today Chekhov's books, "To The Actor" and "On The Technique of Acting," are considered not only legacies of his work, but performance bibles to those that know and appreciate the technique.
An Unknown Gem
The Chekhov technique consists of exercises that are movement based and designed to bring the actor out of his or her head so as to create freely and loosely through the body, ultimately producing a character. The technique emphasizes a psychophysical approach through use of the imagination. The most well-known aspect of the technique is the Psychological Gesture, defined by Moving Dock as "a movement or action that awakens the actor's inner life."
The point is that after learning and performing the exercise, an actor will be able to genuinely become the character by use of his or her body and imagination, and this will be seen through visible and invisible gestures.
"An actor should find a big gesture, like embracing or striking, and act out that gesture as fully as possible, move with it to create the gesture, form it so there is a beginning, middle and end," says Ted Pugh, co-artistic director of The Actors Ensemble in New York and a MICHA board member. "Eventually it will form into an archetypal gesture, and it becomes a form within you. On stage you will then have your gesture within you. Outwardly you may not being doing anything major, but inwardly you're working with the gesture."
Pugh also notes that by working with the imagination and the body, an actor will find the character. "Relying on past memories to ignite an emotion is inhibiting and limiting because the actor is operating out of the realm of oneself," says Pugh. "Chekhov says there is a character and it shouldn't be, 'What would I do in this situation?' but 'What would the character do?' You find the character through movement and imagination; you can discover how they move or how their foot would touch the ground. And this really frees the actor, which is a very important thing."
Local actress Kyla Brundage began studying the Chekhov technique at Moving Dock last September and already senses this idea.
"In the exercises, I can find great specifics for character development, physical and emotional, without getting stuck in my head," says Brundage. "When we do psychological gestures and image-based improvisations, I find the character that was always there. It's not such a struggle to 'decide' if the character is this way or that way, it's more finding them and letting them out. The use of image in this way helps you create a very full character with many specifics."
And this, says Moving Dock assistant artistic director Robert Colpitts, is just plain fun. "You're active and creating. You release yourself from having to 'do' and your artist self 'creates'."
Students seem to agree that it's the "creating" that gets them. Actress Bethany Caputo, who recently moved here from New York where she was studying at MICHA, says, "The Chekhov Technique is making me an artist." Having studied at numerous acting schools, including the Moscow Art Theatre, Caputo has felt most connected with Chekhov. It helps her, she says, to prepare for auditions as well as in the rehearsal process.
"Chekhov gives actors a way to know how to practice," says Arnold. "You can gain an understanding of the psychophysical connection and the way to incorporate your imagination."
Colpitts states his viewpoint a little more boldly: "This technique trains the artist, where everything else just manipulates the ego."
Options in Techniques
With that in mind it's important to look at this technique in relation to others. Any serious actor is going to have trained in numerous teachings. Brundage has studied Meisner and the movement techniques of Alexander, Laban and Williamson. She feels that ultimately Chekhov "bridges the gap" in her training.
"I learned a lot about responsiveness to others in Meisner, and working towards emotional expression. I felt, however, that development of back-story specifics did not really 'get me there' emotionally; it was too in my head," she says. "On the flip side, I love movement work, always have, but wasn't quite getting how to apply it to character development and scene work. Chekhov has done a lot to free me up and get me out of my head. It's also been the first thing that really helped me understand character development as a creative process."
Caputo also studied Meisner, and prefers to combine the two techniques. "In combination, I think Meisner and Chekhov are beautiful together."
So who is the ideal Chekhov student? Some say it's best for only serious actors; others believe it is right for anyone who is ready for it. Arnold thinks those who have studied other techniques will most appreciate it. "It makes a connection for people who know they are actors. It may not be the best for beginners who are unsure because it will be overwhelming."
Arnold notes that it's not just for actors hoping to be on the stage doing intensely serious work; it's for every artist. Film actors and improvisers would greatly benefit from the teachings. As Colpitts puts it, "An actor who naturally says 'yes' will find what they are looking for in Chekhov."
Mulling Over the Thought
2004 International Michael Checkhov Workshop and Congerence in Groznjan, Croatia
To learn more about Chekhov and training and workshops log on to the Moving Dock's website at www.movingdock.org or call Alchymia theatre at 773/755-6843. Additional information on the technique can be found on the MICHA website at www.michaelchekhov.org.
2005 Training Issue