Description
Stanislavski and Charles Jehlinger: A Case of Parallel Evolution?In an article entitled “The American Academy of Dramatic Arts” from Films in Review, Homer Dickens notes that when instructor Charles Jehlinger began teaching there in 1898, “the basic teaching concept of the school moved from the mechanical Delsartean diagrams to subjective realism” which will later be seen as strikingly similar to Stanislavski’s”. The challenge here is that Jehlinger never published anything about his approach to teaching and he never gave any interviews. There are a few articles and book chapters that talk about his methods but it is mostly anecdotal from actor autobiographies and reports from critics and colleagues discussing his work. All agree that there are parallels with Stanislavski. But what are they? Can we get a fix on what Jehlinger was teaching and compare it to his contemporary working in Moscow? Did they know of each other and what each was doing?
Utilizing extant material, including notes taken in rehearsals by a former student of his as well as memories of his students who gained fame as actors, this paper will attempt to examine where the similarities are and whether we can see a case of parallel evolution driven by the influx of the new psychologically real play texts that needed a new approach to acting that Delsarte’s training could not make adjustments to. And given that Jehlinger is known for having trained Hollywood stars like Spencer Tracy, Hume Cronyn, Kirk Douglas, Rosalind Russell and more, it well worth examining his teaching to see what discoveries he made at a time when the theatre world was being dazzled by the work of the Moscow Art Theatre.
| Period | 8 Nov 2025 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Valetta, MaltaShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |