MY CHEKHOV JOURNEY: SCOTT ESPOSITO

I was first exposed to the Michael Chekhov technique in college.  I was a theatre major, but Chekhov was not a primary influence on my professors and, therefore, was not a primary influence on me.  In one class, we spent maybe a week or two on it - an inauspicious start to be sure.  

It wasn’t until about thirteen years later that Michael Chekhov would truly enter my life.  I was working on a production of Mothers & Sons at Beck Center with Cathy Albers.  Cathy, one of the Founding Artistic Directors of the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium (GLMCC), became a friend and, after I mentioned to her that I was becoming bored with acting, suggested I work with a private coach to learn more about the technique.  That decision changed my artistic life.

Since that time, I’ve started attending GLMCC and have incorporated the technique into my work.  I started slow, using only one or two tools, such as psychological gesture or imaginary centers to help focus and define both my characters and their moment-to-moment lives on stage.  Additionally, I was usually the only (or one of a few) actors using the technique on any given production.  And I never worked with a director who incorporated the technique in their direction of a play.

What excited me about the opportunity presented by Our Country’s Good was to be involved in a production that incorporated the technique in every aspect - direction, design, and performance.  The opportunity to luxuriate for months with the technique appealed to me.  As we’ve been working on Our Country’s Good, I have found my use of the technique expanding and deepening.  

Not only have I begun working with more tools, but as we are now applying tools to character, I’m finding inspiration in unexpected places.  In our last rehearsal, we were asked to come prepared to use three tools of our choice in a scene.  We spent a few hours working on just one scene using these tools.  My scene partner and I found an unexpected atmosphere of “reverence” for our scene, which dramatically altered any preconceived notion of what the scene would be.  

I’m excited to see where the rest of this journey takes us as an ensemble of artists.  The technique has brought joy back to performance for me, and this process has been both challenging and joyful.  I hope, in the end, that the audience’s experience mirrors mine.