| Description | Records include shorthand notes made by du Prey, of Chekhov's acting lessons dating from 1935 to 1942. These were later typed and comprise about 500 drama lessons. There are also rehearsal notes of Chekhov's discussions with the Chekhov Theatre Players, the Studio's performance group in America .
George Shdanoff wrote the script for the Chekhov Theatre Players' first production, 'The Possessed'. Directed by Chekhov, the play ran for two weeks at the Lyceum Theatre, Broadway, in October 1939. There are scripts and production notes which provide a sense of Chekhov's dramatic vision for the classical theatre. Other productions staged by the Chekhov Theatre Players included 'Twelfth Night', 'The Adventures of Samuel Pickwick', and 'Cricket on the Hearth'.
Deirdre du Prey's transcriptions of Michael Chekhov's lectures at Dartington and Ridgefield, Connecticut amount to more than 3500 pages and take up 11 volumes which she titled 'The Actor is the Theatre.' Lessons from these volumes were extracted for two books edited by Deirdre Hurst du Prey, 'Lessons for Professional Actors' (1985) and 'Michael Chekhov: Lessons for Teachers of his Acting Technique' (2000).
Other literary records include correspondence and various drafts of Michael Chekhov's book, 'To the Actor: On the Technique of Acting', which was begun at Dartington in 1938 and completed in its first version by 1942. 'To the Actor' was not published in English until 1953. Paul Marshall Allen and Deirdre du Prey assisted Chekhov with the writing of the book.
The Fairy Tale and Folklore files were developed by the Fairy Tale Committee at Dartington at the behest of Michael Chekhov. There are also 8 boxes of play scripts including works original to the Chekhov Theatre Studio. The archive also holds Michael Chekhov's bilingual edition of 'King Lear'.
There are at least 135 cassettes, reel to reel tapes, and videotapes of drama lessons by Chekhov and his disciples, as well as oral history interviews with Chekhov's students. Also found with the collection were many hundreds of photographs and slides dating from the early 1930s. These have been collected into a Michael Chekhov Deirdre Hurst du Prey Photograph Collection described in series 10.
Deirdre du Prey's general correspondence and subject files include personal recollections and unpublished confessions of actors who were closely associated with the theatre at Dartington including Basil Langton and Henry Lyon Young. Deirdre du Prey also collected private papers of Michael Chekhov's students for instance Felicity Mason and Peter Kingscote Tunnard. The latter's manuscripts consist of unpublished poetry, and atmospheric short stories written in Dartington, New York, and in the coastal islands of South Carolina and Georgia. Tunnard died in March 1940, before his writing could be submitted for publication. General files also include original correspondence with Michael Chekhov, surviving records of the Chekhov Theatre Studio, and records of the Michael Chekhov Studio founded in New York by Beatrice Straight, Deirdre du Prey and others.
The files are eclectic. Deirdre du Prey made hundreds of notes of everything related to Michael Chekhov and Dartington. She also saved hundreds of press cuttings and playbills relating to dance and theatre.
Artworks and artefacts consist of numerous costumes, costume designs by Michael Chekhov and Mtislav Dobujinsky, and theatrical props.
There is also a large collection of tape recordings of lectures by Michael Chekhov, Deirdre Hurst du Prey, and other Chekhovian teachers as well as oral history interviews, recordings of radio programmes |