14 - Suler and the First Studio

The MAT was too big, too unwieldy a place for Stanislavsky to develop his burgeoning system. Instead he created a smaller space more conducive to his explorations. Enter Leopold Sulerzhitski, a truly picaresque figure - hobo, stagehand, conscientious objector and polymath - whom Stanislavsky entrusted to lead the First Studio. Suler personally taught a roster of major figures - Michael Chekhov, Eugene Vakktangov, Maria Ouspenskaya and Richard Boleslavsky - who would eventually bring the system to the wider world.