“The Path of the Actor” displayed alongside international publications of Michael Chekhov’s books, tapes and CD’s as well as photographs from his career.

Courtesy of the Michael Chekhov Estate

October 1, 2005

Dear Friends, colleagues and Friends of the work of Michael Chekhov who have gathered here this evening.

It does not seem possible that 50 years have elapsed. My memories of Michael Chekhov are so vivid – I don’t know who I would have been without him. I remember my first class with him as clearly as if it had taken place last week. This slight and seemly retiring man amazed his students as he grew in stature while describing a certain lesson. He grew before our eyes and obviously into my heart. His vision of a “theatre of the future” continues to inspire and it is so gratifying that 50 years later this same impulse is being taken up and carried into the future. It is so interesting to me that his legacy of work is more important today than it was even then for actors and for the world.

I’m so sorry that I cannot be with you tonight in person – wish I could clone myself but event that would present an unsolvable problem as I would have to have two separate bodies and a single consciousness to be able to participate in your wonderful tribute to Michael Chekhov as well as the tribute and book launch here in London. I have now read “The Path of the Actor” for the forth time within two weeks and his greatness as well as his agonizing struggles and triumphs reveal ever more clearly his genius and the nobility of the human spirit.

Our launch in London was a resounding success and Graham Dixon and our colleagues from across the miles send their best wishes to Jack and all of you for an enjoyable and inspiring evening.

I send love,

Mala

Dear friends and colleagues who have gathered together to celebrate the life and work of Michael Chekhov:

First of all, I want to thank Jack Colvin for organizing this event and inviting me to join you. I am in New York and deeply regret that I cannot be with you tonight to share in the excitement of the publication of “The Path of the Actor Life and Encounters:.

As a student of Michael Chekhov, I have been fueled and enriched by my years with him in Los Angeles. My memories of Chekhov are still vivid and inspiring;

Not only the brilliance of his creativity and his relentless and deep investigation into the nature of the theater event, but also his personal warmth, humor, clarity, and most of all, his LOVE of acting and the theater. He believed in the theater as a unique and creative place and he treated our classroom as such, always appearing in an elegant suit and tie with shined shoes, and often, a hat and cane, not to mention a cigarette holder, almost as though her were coming to a party. As he entered, we could all sense the somewhat magical atmosphere he brought with him. Every class was a time to open the doors to what he called “the treasure house of our souls:. And with his guidance, the actor’s imagination and body were set free to walk through those doors with ease, playfulness, and joy.

Chekhov was so far in advance of his time in developing an imaginative as well as practical approach to the art of acting that only now is the theatre community ready to receive his work. Acting programs in colleges and universities are hungry for the full use of the actor’s resources and have rediscovered Michael Chekhov. The publication of Chekhov’s autobiography will further enhance and deepen their appreciation and understanding of his genius.

Have a wonderful time tonight, I am with you and Mischa in spirit.

Joanna Merlin

When I was 12 years old, I saw Michael Chekhov in a Hollywood movie. I had never seen anything like it.

I was a child actor. When I learned he was a teacher, I pursued him for five years.

He took me as a private student. He drew for me the course of my life.

He gave me this by Arture Schopenhauer on the definition of the artist, every artist.

"Art and Philosophy both owe their existence to the ability to remain in a state of pure perception, to lose oneself in perception, to remove from service of the will the knowledge which originally existed only for this service. In other words, genius is the ability to leave entirely out of sight our own interest, our willing, and our aims and consequently to discard entirely our own personality for a time, in order to remain pure knowing subject, the clear eye of the world."

Schopenhauer

Quote from "Path of the Actor" read by Jim Loren, President MCS

“It is clear to me that the most urgent task of the actor is to re-shape himself, his technique, his being as an actor. The theatre not only needs a new repertoire for its salvation, but a new kind of actor! . . . I have been speaking at length about this new technique of acting. But have I mastered this technique myself? No, not yet. This is the frontier at which I am now standing and from which I am casting my eye to my past and to my future. I am preparing myself to adopt this new technique in the future, I await it and I hunger for it. The few attempts that I have made to master it have demonstrated to me its immeasurable depth and value. I am looking forward with hope and it is agonizingly difficult for me to continue living amid these old ways and I battle against the obstacles that lie on the path to the new. Actually, I have not yet acted a single part as it ought to be acted, and if anyone were to ask me which of my roles I regard as the most successful, I would have to reply in all sincerity: the one that I have not yet played.”

The Path of the Actor

Original Text, 1928