Stanislavski Fact File

• The Russian actor and director Constantin Stanislavsky (1863-1938) originated a system of acting.
• He was a co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre, where his productions achieved the zenith in 20th-century naturalism.
• Constantin Stanislavsky was born Constantin Sergeyevich Alexeyev on Jan. 18, 1863, in Moscow.
• His stage name, Stanislavsky, was taken from an actor whom he met in amateur theatricals. 
• Stanislavsky's excellent classical education included singing, ballet, and acting lessons as well as regular visits to the opera and theatre.
• By the age of 14 he was acting in performances at the family estate, where his father had built a theatre.
• After completing his formal education, Stanislavsky entered the family business, enthusiastically devoting himself at the same time to a career in semi-professional theatre.
• Beginning in 1888 he directed and acted in performances for the Society of Art and Literature, which he had founded, and he continued these productions until 1897 under the sponsorship of the Hunting Club.
• He developed a performance process known as method acting, allowing actors to use their personal histories to express authentic emotion and create rich characters. 
• He died in Moscow in 1938.
• In June 1897, he and playwright/director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko decided to open the Moscow Art Theatre, which would be an alternative to standard theatrical aesthetics of the day.
• In 1912, Stanislavski created First Studio, which served as a training ground for young Thespians.
• Stanislavski worked on providing a guiding structure for actors to consistently achieve deep, meaningful and disciplined performances.
• He believed that actors needed to inhabit authentic emotion while on stage and, to do so, they could draw upon feelings they'd experienced in their own lives.
• Stanislavski also developed exercises that encouraged actors to explore character motivations, giving performances depth and an unassuming naturalism while still paying attention to the parameters of the production.
• In 1917 Stanislavski faced some criticism for not producing communist works, yet he was able to maintain his company's unique perspective and not contend with an imposed artistic vision
• .During a performance to commemorate the Moscow Art Theatre's 30th anniversary, Stanislavski suffered a heart attack. 
• Stanislavski spent his later years focusing on his writing, directing and teaching. He died on August 7, 1938, in the city of his birth.
• Stanislavski treated theatre-making as a serious endeavour, requiring dedication, discipline and integrity. 
• Stanislavski's work was as important to the development of socialist realism in the Soviet Union as it was to that of Physiological realism in the United States.