The Plays of Anton Chekhov, Schmidt translation: Phenomenal. I'm familiar with it, having used it at Fordham. Schmidt's translation puts Chekhov into colloquial American English and is invaluable. There are 4 main plays ("The Seagull," "Three Sisters" (originally written as a comedy, "Uncle Vanya," and "The Cherry Orchard"), and several others.
"The Vaudevilles" and Other Short Works, Anton Chekhov: Very good. It struck me halfway through how many Russian works don't have a conclusion. They just... end. Cool because you can decide for yourself, infuriating because it's not something you're used to having to do.
"The Inspector General" and "Marriage," Nikolai Gogol: Both are famous with good reason. A thousand different possible interpretations, easy reading.
"Diary of a Scoundrel" and "It's a Family Affair, We'll Settle It Ourselves," Alexander Ostrovsky: Both extremely entertaining. Especially like "Diary of a Scoundrel..."
"A Month in the Country," Ivan Turgenev: Very good. Deserves a second reading, if only to catch the stuff I missed the first time around... it seems as though a lot of these require second reading for just that reason.
Let me preface these next books by saying that I am EXTREMELY wary of acting theory books. Generally, I'm of the opinion that acting is learnt by doing, not reading. But I am a convert. Perhaps more so as a director than as an actor, but these books are incredible and incredibly useful. Makes me wonder why Fordham doesn't require more reading.
"To the Actor," Michael Chekhov: Wasn't looking forward to reading this, but it wasn't bad. Lots of exercises for the actor, lots of good quotes, and several references to directing.
"An Actor Prepares," Konstantin Stanislavky: Awesome. Awesome awesome. Again, was expecting something extremely dry, but this wasn't. The format is that of a MXAT student in acting class, being taught Stanislavski's system.
"My Life in Art," Konstantin Stanislavsky: Was terrified to begin this. It's a huge, thick book with Stanislavsky on the cover and the title makes it sound like an epic. An it is, but it's an autobiography written in semi-relaxed story form. Remarkably easy to read, incredibly interesting (I love autobiographies), but took a lifetime to finish.
"The Russian Theatre After Stalin," Anatoly Smeliansky: Written by the Associate Director of the Theatre and Head of the school. I met him back in January-he's a brilliant guy, and the book is equally brilliant. Again, I like history, so this was a good read.
Yet to read: "The Forest": A play, an hour read tops. "Meyerhold at Work." Should finish that one by... Saturday night?
I'm slowly (oh so slowly) packing. How do you pack three months of life into two 50-lb suitcases? I attempted just one, but decided to bite the bullet on the second checked bag fee, because one just can't be done. There are so many things to remember to pack... don't know how I'm going to get it done.
And wondering if bringing my ripped up Converse is a social no-no. We've been explicitly told that the Russians like their footwear. I already took out my nose piercing and dyed the pink out of my hair, having been advised that traditional is the norm. I bought house slippers for inside the dorms, because last time I got funny looks for walking around barefoot. Have been vacuum-packing the lightweight but space-taking things in my suitcase e.g. my ballet tights. Extremely entertained and since then have been vacuum-packing anything I can get my hands on...
I've got 3 (2?) days to go, and I'm almost ready to leave.
I'm very ready to be over there.
You know, at one point, I was convinced that I wasn't going to go.
But now I am, and I'm so excited to be in Moscow and not in New York. Ready for something really different. A different sort of drama.
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