Moscow and all the culture it offers may be a far cry from the rich cornfields of DeKalb, but that didn’t stop NIU’s School of Theatre and Dance from finding things to learn on their visit to the the Moscow Art Theatre School this summer.

The trip, which included 15 students and Alexander Gelman, director of the theatre and dance department at NIU, and theater professor Christopher Markle took place during the entire month of June.

The Moscow Art Theatre was founded by Konstantin Stanislavsky. Stanislavsky is the creator of the “Stanislavsky System,” Gelman said.

“It is an actor training methodology on which all the actor training is based in this country,” he said. “The Moscow Art Theatre School is one of the world’s foremost acting schools.”

Senior theater major David Pittmansaid he’s still learning from his experience in Moscow.

“I have learned about a culture that relies upon art in every faction to escape to, and the respect that comes to the artists who create that escape,” Pittman said. “I learned various techniques for approaching acting and a role.”

NIU graduate student Chris Hibbard also went to Moscow. He said the trip was a growing experience for himself as an actor.

“Moscow was inspirational,” Hibbard said. “It gave me pride to be a performer.”

Pittman believes his experience at NIU prepared him for the instruction he received while in Moscow.

“Had I not had the training at Northern, I think the process would have been slow and frustrating,” Pittman said. “I would have been lost, but having had the training at Northern, I was able to communicate more with the professors and in turn understand them. I have learned a new respect for the craft of acting and theatre as a whole.”

Moscow served as a great learning experience for Gelman as well.

“I learned too much to even begin to calculate,” Gelman said. “Great training, a recognition of how truly terrific the training they receive at NIU is, a personal connection with the roots of their craft, a total immersion into theatre world, and a connection with a rich theatrical tradition.”

With all the learning he experienced his first time around, Gelman hopes to return to Russia again some day soon.

“I am already considering going back next summer,” Gelman said. “It is a pilgrimage for an actor to go to Moscow and the Moscow Art Theatre. It is the birthplace of all we know. There we can get back to the thirst and the hunger that acting invokes. I would love to return throughout my career as a sanctuary and a place to reinvigorate my art.”