Leopold Sulerzhitsky
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Leopold Antonovich Sulerzhitsky (Russian: Леопольд Антонович Сулержицкий; 1872-1916) was a Russian theatre director of Polish descent. He is associated with the Moscow Art Theatre and the household of Leo Tolstoy. Among his many disciples were Yevgeny Vakhtangov and Mikhail Chekhov.
A native of Zhitomir, Sulerzhitsky pursued study of the visual arts in Kiev. As a schoolboy he was involved in decorating St Volodymyr's Cathedral, working under the likes of Mikhail Vrubel and Viktor Vasnetsov. In 1890 he joined the Stroganov Art School in Moscow but dropped out four years later, due to his "anti-government escapades." Sulerzhitsky, always a colorful personality, turned his attention to theatre and soon became a fixture of Moscow artistic life.
Tatiana Tolstaya, one of his schoolmates, introduced him to her famous father. Sulerzhitsky grew fascinated with Leo Tolstoy's ideas of pacifism and anarchism and decided to dedicate his life to their dissemination. He became one of the most loyal Tolstoyans. His diary kept track of early Doukhobor life before, during, and just after the Doukhobor's migration to Canada at the beginning of the twentieth century. The published diary is called, "To America with the Doukhobors."
Sulerzhitsky contributed greatly to the construction of one of the most successful actor training techniques in the world. He worked with Constantin Stanislavsky for many years.
In his book on the Stanislavsky technique Mel Gordon attributes the very founding of Stanislavsky's system to his nine-year relationship with Leopold Sulerzhitsky. Sulerzhitsky was well versed in Eastern-influenced religious practices, informing Stanislavsky about yoga, meditation and the nature of Prana.
