MICHA’s Teacher Training Program focuses on Michael Chekhov’s unique approach to teaching. Beginning in 2023 MICHA will offer both an in-person and virtual teacher training. These programs are distinct from one another and, upon completion of the full program, each earns a documented Completion of Curriculum.

Go Here To Register for the 2024 Virtual or In-Person Teacher Training 2 Returning Cohort  | Become A Member

If you were not an attendee of the 2023 Teacher Training 1 Cohort held in 2023 but believe you may have sufficient experience to join Teacher Training 2, you may complete our application HERE. An interview, application fee and onboarding session will be required.

Scroll down for more information on each training mode.

Completion of Teacher Training Curriculum: In-Person Program

Teachers who wish to achieve MICHA’s In-Person Completion of Curriculum must commit to a minimum of three (3) summers of in-person training in order to complete six (6) week-long workshops. Additionally, all participants must complete a virtual seminar in Chekhov’s Five Guiding Principles. Four of the six in-person workshops must include participation in the Fundamental and Continuing acting tracks as well as Teacher Trainings 1 and 2. The remaining two workshops are elective. Choose from repeated participation in the Fundamentals or Continuing Acting tracks, Advanced Acting track, Directing track, Devising track or Teacher Training 3. Some electives are by application only.

IN-PERSON TEACHER TRAINING YEAR 1: THE ACTOR BECOMES THE TEACHER: REVIEWING THE TECHNIQUE

For those who have completed the Continuing Track as actors and have started to use the technique in their work. (If you have not completed the Continuing track and would like to join Teacher Training 1, contact MICHA to arrange for an interview.)

The ‘What’ –

Preparing to explore the technique from the point of view of a teacher

  • Experience an overview of the elements of the technique and how they relate to each other

  • Bring forward your questions as you refine your experiential understanding

  • Connect your experience of receiving the technique with your potential of delivering it

  • Discuss and explore the essential aspects of the role of the teacher found in Chekhov’s Five Guiding Principles and Lessons for Teachers

Teacher Training 1 Track culminates in a participant-led discussion reflecting on next steps in their Chekhov teaching practice

IN-PERSON TEACHER TRAINING YEAR 2: GUIDING OTHERS IN THE TECHNIQUE

The ‘How’ –

Practical consideration of how to deliver the technique

  • How to establish the learning atmosphere

  • How to set the stage of a class from a uniquely Chekhov point of view: the teacher’s own sense of presence and employing an open-ended explorative language that invites rather than instructs

  • How to set up the conditions for a creative process to unfold, enabling the student to be in a creative state

  • The Feeling of the Whole in practice: considering the context of a lesson; communicating aims; fostering engagement; constructing the spine of a lesson; creating closure

Teacher Training 2 Track provides an opportunity for each  participant to guide their colleagues through a short exploration

IN-PERSON TEACHER TRAINING YEAR 3: PRACTICAL APPLICATION AND THE CRITICAL RESPONSE PROCESS

For those who have completed Teacher Training 2

  • Daily practical review of technique based upon the questions and needs of the group

  • Demonstration of ability as a teacher or facilitator of the technique

  • Teach a class applying Chekhov’s technique to your specific area of interest and expertise.

  • Learn and practice the Critical Response Process, a method of giving and receiving feedback on works-in-progress, as a means for effectively sharing your class with the group and discussing the classes taught by your colleagues.

Completion of Teacher Training Curriculum: Virtual Program

MICHA’s Virtual Teacher Training program takes place over the course of three years and mirrors the overall structure of MICHA’s In-Person Teacher Training with the following differences: the schedule is weekly over 10 weeks, for 2.5 hours, with additional weekly explorations/homework tasks each week in between sessions. We foreground how to sustain your own training and creative development as a teacher, how to transform your personal space into a creative working space, and how to begin to cultivate and articulate the language of teaching the technique as a descriptive, embodied and living vocabulary. We hone in on the empowering, non-judgmental and private quality of the online context. In each weekly session there will be a discussion about how to translate the training from online to in-person contexts. Participants are facilitated and invited to meet online in between sessions to undertake collaborative tasks.

VIRTUAL TEACHER TRAINING YEAR 1: THE ACTOR BECOMES THE TEACHER: REVIEWING THE TECHNIQUE

February 11 – April 15 2023: Online sessions Saturdays 9-11:30am Eastern Time AND

Summer 2023: Michael Chekhov’s Five Guiding Principles, offered online over 4 consecutive days.

*Participants who complete year one of MICHA’s virtual teacher training may opt to join MICHA’s April 2023 in-person teacher training program.

VIRTUAL TEACHER TRAINING YEAR 2: GUIDING OTHERS IN THE TECHNIQUE

February 10 – April 13 2024: Online sessions Saturdays 9-11:30am Eastern Time AND

Summer 2024: Chekhov Technique & Ensemble, offered online over 4 consecutive days

Mentorship: Following the completion of the training offered in year two, participants may arrange for mentorship with members of MICHA faculty at an additional cost.

VIRTUAL TEACHER TRAINING YEAR 3: PRACTICAL APPLICATION AND THE CRITICAL RESPONSE PROCESS

February 8 – April 12, 2025: Online sessions Saturdays 9-11:30am Eastern Time AND

Summer 2024: Applying Chekhov’s Technique in the Creative Process, offered online over 4 consecutive days

More About MICHA's Completion of Curriculum

Inspired by Michael Chekhov’s generosity and insights into the art of acting, at MICHA we believe that Chekhov’s acting technique belongs to those who commit to study it and endeavor to practice and develop it. We do not certify artists to be “master teachers.” Rather, we seek to support, inspire, and provide a community of one’s peers in the common study of Chekhov’s technique. In offering a documented Completion of Curriculum, teacher participants have an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of Chekhov’s technique so that they may return to their classroom and incorporate what they have learned before returning again to share with the MICHA community. We feel that time is an essential part of the process — both time with MICHA, and time away from MICHA. We support your efforts to accept, reject, digest, adapt and apply the work in your own field. Year after year we delight in the myriad approaches that teacher participants take to meet this challenge. Some elect to make offerings during MICHA events such as teaching demonstration classes, convening a session during our Theater of the Future open space, or performing in the summer Festival. Others have collaborated outside of MICHA by creating panels at academic conferences, publishing articles, writing books, inviting one another to guest direct/perform etc. In this way MICHA acts as a home base and the fertile ground for collaboration and exploration. Your unique circumstances may necessitate that you take longer than 3 years to complete the 6 workshops to earn your certificate. This is fine. In fact, many complete the curriculum and continue to attend workshops.

Question and Answer Series

You are welcome to check out our Q&A series for supplemental material and resources.

We encourage all teachers to read Michael Chekhov’s Lessons for Teachers. Translations are available in English, Russian, and German.