The S Word
The S Word: Stanislavsky and the Contemporary Theatre
The S Word was created in 2015 by Bella Merlin and Paul Fryer as an international collaborative research project exploring the influence and legacy of Konstantin Stanislavsky’s work and teaching.
The inaugural event – Stanislavski and the Future of Acting – was held at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance in the UK in March 2016. Attended by over 100 delegates from all over the world, the symposium opened with a Keynote given by Prof Jonathan Pitches (University of Leeds) and Dr Stefan Aquilina (University of Malta), which was followed by the Stanislavski Centre annual lecture given by Prof Sharon Carnicke (University of Southern California). This was followed by two days of panels, papers and practical workshops. Selected material from the symposium was subsequently published in the Spring 2017 edition of the Stanislavski Studies journal.
This event was followed in March 2017 by Merging Methodologies, hosted by DAMU Theatre Academy in Prague, Czech Republic, and in April 2018 by A Practical Acting Laboratory, hosted by The University of California Riverside.
In April 2019, The S Word symposium, Stanislavski in Context, was held at the Valetta Campus of The University of Malta, and was followed by Beyond Brecht: Contradiction as a Method in Prague in November 2019.
The 2022 symposium, Stanislavsky's Last Words, was held at DAMU in Prague.
In April 2023, London South Bank University hosted a one-day symposium on Stanislavsky and Mindfulness, and Stanislavsky: Director, Teacher, Pedagogue was hosted by the National and Kapodistrian University in Athens in November 2023.
The Spring 2024 symposium, Stanislavsky and Space took place at WAAPA in Perth, Western Australia, and will be followed by a return to our co-host, The University of Malta, in November 2025.
In November 2020, in response to the difficulties caused by the Covid pandemic, The S Word launched a series of online events, webinars, debates and presentations, starting with Teaching Stanislavsky Online, hosted by The University of Malta, and followed by Stanislavsky and Race: Questioning the System for the 21st Century, Stanislavsky and Disability and Stanislavsky and Gender. Recent webinar and one-day events have included, Stanislavsky And Opera (online), and Stanislavsky and NeuroDiversity (hybrid event).
The S Word is a collaborative partnership – the current partners are London South Bank University, The University of Leeds, The University of California Riverside, DAMU (Czech Republic), Macunaima Theatre School (Sao Paulo, Brazil), The University of Malta, The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Perth) and The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece).
Partner institutions usually host an S Word event, and we anticipate that several new partners will join the project over the next few months.
Although registration fees are charged to help cover the costs of staging the symposia, host institutions are usually able to offer a number of free places for students and faculty.
The convener for all S Word events is Professor Paul Fryer (Co-Director of The Stanislavsky Research Centre at the University of Leeds), who shares this responsibility with a representative from the host institution. Our Co-convener, Professor Bella Merlin (University of California Riverside) acts as creative consultant to all S Word events.
S Word project partners are not required to make any financial contribution to the project, but are encouraged to host events and raise sponsorship whenever possible.
The S Word positively encourages the participation of academics and practitioners, students, teachers and enthusiasts. Material generated by the events will be published on this website, in the journal, Stanislavski Studies (Taylor and Francis, and as input to the new book series Stanislavsky And...
For further information about this project, contact Paul Fryer ([email protected])
