Enemies: a Russian love story; Meyerhold and Stanislavsky, the two opposing titans of Russian theatre, are the seeds for renewal and reawakening in today's Moscow.(Special Section: Approaches to Theatre Training 2004)(Konstantin Stanislavsky, V.E. Meierhold)

American Theatre, January, 2004 by Sacharow, Lawrence

IN MAY 2001. I ARRIVED IN MOSCOW on tour with the River Arts Repertory Company production of The Road Home: Stories of Children of War, which was about to be performed at the famed Taganka Theatre during the International Theatre Olympics. I immediately went to see my dear friend and colleague Anatoly Smeliansky, the dean of the Moscow Art Theatre School and literary manager of the theatre. We embraced warmly, and he said, "Welcome to Moscow, theatre capital of the world."

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I had worked in Moscow many times during the past 12 years and seen society and theatre change radically after the fall of communism. Never before had Smeliansky described Moscow theatre so vividly. Something new seemed to be in the air.

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