Alexander Akimovich Sanin (, né Shoenberg, Шёнберг; – 8 May 1956) was a Russian actor, director and acting teacher.Санин Александр Акимович
Biography at www.kino-teatr.ru He was a founder member of the Moscow Art Theatre and during his career directed plays, operas, and films.

Biography

Born in Berdichev, Alexander Shoenberg studied history and philology at the Moscow University. After meeting Konstantin Stanislavski, who was to become the major artistic influence in his life, he made his stage debut in 1887 with Stanislavski's Society of Art and Literature, with whom he also directed crowd scenes in the Meiningen manner. In 1898, he joined the newly founded Moscow Art Theatre company, at which point he adopted the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

"Sanin." It was there that he gave his first critically acclaimed performance, as Lup-Kleshnin in '' Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich'' by A.K. Tolstoy. In tandem with Stanislavski, Sanin also co-directed ''Tsar Ioannovich'', along with several other productions with the fledgling company, including '' The Sunken Bell'' by Gerhart Hauptmann (1898), '' The Merchant of Venice'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

(1898), '' Men Above the Law'' by Alexey Pisemsky (1898), '' The Death of Ivan the Terrible'' by A.K. Tolstoy (1899), '' Snegurochka'' by Alexander Ostrovsky (1900), and ''

The Wild Duck ''The Wild Duck'' (original Norwegian title: ''Vildanden'') is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It explores the complexities of truth and illusion through the story of a family torn apart by secrets and the intrusion of a ...

'' by

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

(1901). In 1902, he married Lika Mizinova, a woman with whom

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

had once been romantically involved and who served as a prototype for Nina Zarechnaya in ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...

''.Sanin Biography at the Russian Drama Theatre Encyclopedia // Русский драматический театр: Энциклопедия / Под общ. ред. М. И. Андреева, Н. Э. Звенигородской, А. В. Мартыновой и др. — М.: Большая Российская энциклопедия, 2001. — 568 с.: ил. (С. 406—407) That same year, following a disagreement with Stanislavski over the re-organization of the company (which had also prompted the departure of Vsevolod Meyerhold), Sanin moved to the Alexandrinsky Theatre. He remained there until 1907, working as an actor, director, and acting teacher, during which time he sought to propagate Stanislavski's ideas within that company. He directed a number of plays by Alexander Ostrovsky with the Alexandrinsky, including ''The False Dmitry and Vasily Shuysky'', '' An Ardent Heart'' and '' Stay in Your Own Sled''. In 1907, Sanin left the Alexandrinsky to join Sergey Dyagilev's European troupe. There, now working mainly as an opera director, he concentrated on the classics of Russian music and staged several successive opera productions, including '' Boris Godunov'' at the

Grand Opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and Orchestra, orchestras. The original productions consisted of spectacular design and stage effects with plots normally based on o ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, with Fyodor Chalyapin in the lead. In 1913, Sanin joined the newly formed Mardzhanov's Free Theatre and in 1914–1915 he was the stage director of the Moscow Drama Theatre.Sanin's biography
at the MAT site. In January 1917, Sanin returned to Moscow Art Theatre and stayed until 1919. During this period he produced several plays and operas both for the Bolshoy ('' Pskovityanka'' by Rimsky-Korsakov, '' Prince Igor'' by Alexander Borodin, 1917;

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', w ...

's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

'', 1922) and Maly Theatres (''Posadnik'' by A.K. Tolstoy, ''Elektra'' by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, 1918, Ostrovsky's '' The Forest'' and Griboyedov's '' Woe from Wit'', 1921). He was the director of three early Soviet films: ''Devyi Gory'' (1918), '' Polikushka'' (1919) and ''The Thieving Magpie'' (1920). Sanin and his wife left the Soviet Union in late 1922, after which he directed numerous classic Russian operas at several major world theatres, such as the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and listed building, Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) an ...

, and

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

, staging works by Modest Musorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Borodin, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Mikhail Glinka, Pyotr Chaykovsky, Alexander Serov, and Anton Rubinstein.A. Pruzhansky, ''Dictionary of Native Singers 1750–1917'
[Пружанский, А. М., ''Отечественные певцы. 1750–1917: Словарь'']
(In Russian, accessed August, 2011) He died in Italy on 8 May 1956 and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanin, Alexander Moscow Art Theatre People from Berdychiv Soviet male actors Male actors from the Russian Empire Theatre directors from the Russian Empire Soviet film directors Soviet theatre directors 1869 births 1956 deaths