Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko

Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko was co-founder with Konstantin Stanislavski of the Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT) in 1898. He also was co-founder of the Acting School at the Moscow Art Theatre and was a director, an acting pedagogue, and playwright. He was born Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko on December 23, 1858, in Ozurgety, near Tbilisi, Georgia, Russian Empire (now Ozurgety, Georgia). His father, Ivan Dachenko, was a military officer in the Russian Army. Young Nemirovich-Danchenko was fond of literature and theatre. He studied at Tbilisi Gymnasium, and played with amateur school productions of classic plays. From 1876- 1879 he studied at the department of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University. In 1881 Nemirovich-Danchenko published his first story, then wrote several plays and had his plays staged by theatre companies in Moscow and in St, Petersburg. He emerged as a notable playwright, novelist and theatre producer, and was awarded the Griboedov Prize for his popular plays. During the 1890s he taught acting class at the Moscow Philharmonia, where his student were such talented actors as Vsevolod Meyerhold and Olga Knipper-Chekhova. Nemirovich-Danchenko is best known as the co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre. An independent theatre company was the only way to obtain some freedom of speech amidst the tough censorship in Russia under the rule of the Tsar Nicholas II. In 1897 he joined Konstantin Stanislavski to start what would become the most successful independent private theatre company in Moscow, Russia. In 1898 Moscow Art Theatre began the first season with the staging of "Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich" by Aleksei Tolstoy. At the same time Nemirovich-Danchenko secured the rights to the production of "The Seagull" (1898), and other plays written by Anton Chekhov. In "The Seagull" Nina was played by Olga Knipper-Chekhova and Treplev by Vsevolod Meyerhold. "The Seagull", "Uncle Vanya", "The Three Sisters", and "The Cherry Orchard", all by Anton Chekhov, were the most acclaimed plays, produced by Nemirovich-Danchenko. His other productions at the Moscow Art Theatre included "The Lower Depths" by writer Maxim Gorky, and "Life of a Man" by Leonid Andreyev among other Russian plays. After the Russian revolution of 1917, the Soviet Communists established a bloody dictatorial regime, so many leading actors and directors emigrated from the troubled Soviet Russia. However, Nemirovich-Danchenko continued his work at the Moscow Art Theatre. In 1922-24 the troupe made a series of successful guest performances in Europe and in the United States. During the 1920s-1930s Mikhail A. Bulgakov was the staff playwright at the Moscow Art Theatre. The legendary play "Days of the Turbins" by Mikhail A. Bulgakov was performed over 200 times. At least 15 performances of the play were attended by Iosif Stalin, who later used in his speeches some of the well-written lines from the characters in the play of Mikhail A. Bulgakov. Nemirovich-Danchenko was the proponent of the Stanislavski's System of acting, also known as "Method" (or Acting Method). His hectic personal relations with the highly emotional Konstantin Stanislavski were described by Mikhail A. Bulgakov in his novel "Teatralny Roman" (The Theatrical Novel). In the 1920s Nemirovich-Danchenko with Konstantin Stanislavski also co-founded the Moscow Musical Theatre for the ballet, opera, and musical productions. Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko played a historic influential role in the 20th century Russian theatre as well as in world theatre. His personal friendship with Anton Chekhov and Olga Knipper-Chekhova was part of the success. He managed to survive through the rough times in the Russian history under the dictatorship of Iosif Stalin. Stalin was a regular visitor of the Moscow Art Theatre because of his obsession with the plays by Mikhail A. Bulgakov. Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko was under surveillance by the Soviet secret service, predecessor of the KGB, however he survived and preserved the tradition of the Moscow Art Theatre. He died of a heart attack on April 25, 1943, in Moscow, and was laid to rest at the Novodevichy Convent Cemetery in Moscow.