A scene study class designed to immerse performers in the tragicomedic world of Anton Chekhov’s plays, empowering them with the acting tools necessary to bring the text to life with laughter, tears, and unabashed spontaneity.
A rare chance to study Chekhov’s deeply moving and incredibly funny vision of the human comedy with master acting teacher Anya Saffir, who has taught Chekhov for twenty-five years in New York City and across the globe, and directed productions at the Moscow Art Theater, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Harvard/American Repertory Theater, the Atlantic Theater Company, Atlantic Acting School, and beyond.
This eight-day intensive is an acting class for performers wishing to push their work forward to the next level, using deep script analysis work and an organic, embodied approach to live performance. Working on Chekhov’s layered, nuanced, and emotionally rich characters gives actors the fine skills to excel in any and all works of psychological realism, on stage and screen alike!
Practical Aesthetics, a simple, common-sensical, and clarifying approach to acting, will be our primary acting technique in the room. Dramaturgy and historical context will guide us in our world-building and provide greater understanding of given circumstances. Actors bring their scenes into class twice, with time for table work as well as free exploration on our feet. Actors versed in Practical Aesthetics- as well as those that are not!- are all welcome. Anya will cast students in scene work from the four full-length plays- The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard- or the short vaudevilles The Bear and The Proposal. Emphasis will b creating an ensemble based on trust, support, and the freedom to fail in a non-hierarchical, experimental, warmly humane, and yet rigorous environment.
September 15-24th
Week 1: M-F 11am-2:30pm
Week 2: M-W 11am-2:30pm
APPLICATION AND INTERVIEW REQUIRED
Email classes@elysiantheater.com with any questions.
Instructor bio:
Anya Saffir is a theater director, writer, and educator based in and hailing from New York City. Directing credits include Much Ado About Nothing at the American Repertory Theater Institute, Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle at Theater for a New City (ITBA Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Show; New York Innovative Theater Award for Best Original Score), Hamlet with Orpheus Productions (three New York Innovative Theater Award nominations, including Outstanding Director), American Sojourns: Three Plays by Thornton Wilder at The Moscow Art Theater, Romeo and Juliet at The American Theater of Actors, a new translation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull co-developed with translator Moti Margolin, Pierre Corneille’s L’Illusion Comique at The Abe Burrows Theater, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs at Classic Stage Company, Chekhov’s Three Sisters for Muse Theater, numerous Atlantic Theater student productions including 12th Night, Pericles: Prince of Tyre, As You Like It, Our Country’s Good, Mad Forest, The Winter’s Tale and Uncle Vanya, and new works by Kate Robin, Jerome Hairston, Mike Dowling, and Tom Donaghy. With frequent collaborator-composer Cormac Bluestone, Anya co-wrote and directed an operetta of Marjorie Williams Bianco’s classic story, The Velveteen Rabbit, which premiered at Atlantic Theater Company and was nominated for an Off-Broadway Alliance Award Nomination for Best Children’s Play. Anya was co-director and story editor of the fiction podcast It Makes a Sound, and a recurring contributor on Shakespeare topics for NPR’s The Takeaway. She has taught and directed B.F.A. and M.F.A. actors at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, Brooklyn College, Penn State, and The Center for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University, with a special focus on Shakespeare and the plays of Anton Chekhov. She has taught master classes in Practical Aesthetics in Sydney, Australia, and annually at La Teatrería, and Foro 37: Teatro Boutique, Mexico City. Anya has worked with hundreds of actors as an acting coach, helping them to prepare roles for Broadway, off-Broadway, film and television.
Class cancellation policy: No refunds, exchanges, or transfers.