ABSTRACT

This chapter interrogates the continuing value of Konstantin Stanislavsky's legacy to acting in the wake of twenty-first-century discoveries in cognitive science, specifically Theory of Mind. A brief survey of how Stanislavsky's science has been studied reveals that a new scholarly methodology is emerging in the wake of twenty-first-century discoveries in cognitive science. At base, Stanislavsky's impulse to understand acting through science was not unique or particularly original. Antonio Damasio's research on human consciousness can test the efficacy of studying Stanislavsky's theories through the lens of cognitive science. Stanislavsky developed Active Analysis (AA) in his last Studio, the Opera-Dramatic (1934–1938), while he was under virtual house arrest by Stalin for artistic ideas that violated Soviet policies on Socialist Realism. Stanislavsky worked out the principles of AA by rehearsing plays in a variety of performance styles and genres with a select group of actors behind closed doors.