Editing Michael Chekhov (section)

==Life==
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2022}}
He was born in [[Saint Petersburg]], the son of [[Alexander Chekhov]] (the elder brother of [[Anton Chekhov]]) and his wife Natalya Aleksandrovna Golden. It was his father's second marriage. His mother, a Russian Jew, had been the governess to the children from his father's first marriage. He was raised in a middle-class family; his father was in the Imperial Customs Service and was a moderately successful writer.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

Chekhov's first wife was actress [[Olga Chekhova]], whom he met at the [[Moscow Art Theatre]] First Studio. Olga Chekhova was a daughter of Konstantin Knipper and was the niece of [[Olga Knipper]], [[Anton Chekhov]]'s wife, after whom she was named. Their daughter, also baptized Olga, was born in 1916 and became a German actress under the name [[Ada Tschechowa]]. His second wife was Xenia Karlovna Ziller, of German origins. {{citation needed|date=March 2015}}

Chekhov studied under the Russian [[theatre practitioner]] [[Konstantin Stanislavski]] at the First Studio, where he acted, directed, and studied [[Stanislavski's 'system']]. He was also influenced in his creative development as an actor by [[Yevgeny Vakhtangov]] and [[Leopold Sulerzhitsky]].<ref name="International DictionaryofTheatre">"Michael Chekhov." ''International Dictionary of Theatre''. Chicago: St. James Press, 1992. Vol. 3. Updated version by Gale, 1996. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 2018-06-26.</ref> 
In 1922, after the death of [[Vakhtangov]], Chekhov became director of the First Studio, which was subsequently renamed Moscow Art Theatre II.<ref name="International DictionaryofTheatre"/>

Stanislavski considered Chekhov to be one of his brightest students. When Chekhov experimented with affective memory and had a nervous breakdown, this aided Stanislavski in seeing the limitations of his early concepts of emotional memory.

After the [[October Revolution]], Chekhov split with Stanislavski and toured with his own company. He thought that Stanislavski's techniques led too readily to a [[Naturalism (theatre)|naturalistic]] style of performance. He demonstrated his own theories acting in parts such as Senator Ableukhov in the stage version of [[Andrei Bely]]'s ''[[Petersburg (novel)|Petersburg]]''.

With the beginning of [[Stalinism]] in 1927, Chekov came into conflict with the Communist regime and was threatened to be arrested, especially for his [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualist]] interests.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eEBvDwAAQBAJ&q=Michael+Chekhov+stalin&pg=PT30|title = Michael Chekhov|isbn = 9780429941061|last1 = Chamberlain|first1 = Franc|date = 21 September 2018| publisher=Routledge }}</ref> In the late 1920s, Chekhov emigrated to [[Germany]] and set up his own studio, teaching a physical and imagination-based system of actor training. He developed the use of the "Psychological Gesture", a concept derived from the [[Russian Symbolism|Symbolist]] theories of Bely. In this technique, the actor physicalizes a character's need or internal dynamic in the form of an external gesture. Subsequently, the outward gesture is suppressed and incorporated internally, allowing the physical memory to inform the performance on an unconscious level.

Between 1930 and 1935 he worked in [[Kaunas State Drama Theatre]] in [[Lithuania]]. Between 1936 and 1939 Chekhov established The Chekhov Theatre School at [[Dartington Hall]], in [[Devon]], [[England]]. Following developments in Germany that threatened the outbreak of war he moved to the US with the couple, and later writers, [[Anne Cumming]] and Henry Lyon Young to recreate a drama school.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-anne-cumming-1464458.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-anne-cumming-1464458.html |archive-date=12 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Obituary: Anne Cumming|date=1993-08-31|work=The Independent|access-date=2017-04-12|language=en-GB}}</ref>