Stanislavsky in Practice: Actor Training in Post-Soviet Russia

Stanislavsky in Practice focuses on the course of study pursued today by aspiring actors in Russia and on the philosophy that informs this curriculum. It draws on extensive observation during the academic year 2000-2001 of the actor training program of the St. Petersburg State Academy of Theatre Arts (SPGATI), one of the three most prestigious theatrical institutes in Russia, and on interviews of a wide array of individuals in the Academy. Although the years since 1991 have witnessed many changes in theater and in actor training - sources of funding, administration, choice of repertoire, new methodologies, etc. - there remains much continuity with the past. The core of this continuity is the Stanislavsky tradition, which nevertheless has been affected by the views of post-Soviet Russia. The developments in actor training from 1991 to 2001 reflect the challenges and problems faced by other institutions in the arts and sciences. In other words, the phenomenon of continuity and discontinuity with the past is characteristic of other institutions in Russia, cultural as well as scientific and educational.

The Author: Vreneli Farber is Professor of Russian at Oregon State University. She received her Ph.D. in Russian literature from Indiana University and has traveled regularly to Russia since 1967. She is the author of The Playwright Aleksandr Vampilov (Lang, 2001) and The Prose of Aleksandr Vampilov (Lang, 2003). She has over thirty years of experience, acting and directing.