Scene Work

The more developed your imagination through systematic exercises, the more flexible and fleeting it becomes.

— Michael Chekhov

“Scene Work” is a workshop designed for actors and performers who want to deepen their acting skills, learn effective tools from Michael Chekhov technique, and apply them directly in scene work.

Are you at a point in your career where:

You miss technical skills to deepen your acting?
You feel disconnected from your scene partner, your body, and imagination?
You struggle finding emotional truth without forcing it?
You rely too heavily on intellectual analysis, past habits, and “safe” choices?
You want to learn how to quickly discover the depth of your character before going to the audition?
You wish to get free, creative, and follow true impulses?

If so, Michael Chekhov technique is most likely for you.

(…) if you look at different persons in your daily life, you will see that each person has a psychological gesture, although the person does not know what it is.

— Michael Chekhov

During this workshop, you will learn about highly useful tools for working on scenes:

Psychological Gesture

One of the most popular and effective tools from Michael Chekhov technique, particularly effective in building relationships between characters.

4 Qualities of Movement

"Molding, Floating, Flying, Radiating - these archetypal qualities significantly affect our emotional states.

Imaginary Centers

This tool helps to portray the character through imaginary work.

Sometime we will realize that our profession is the only one which has no technique. A painter has to develop a technique, a musician, a dancer, every artist, but somehow we actors are left alone – we are acting because we want to act, and we act just as it goes. Something must be wrong.

— Michael Chekhov

Thanks to this workshop, you will:

Learn a few impactful tools from Michael Chekhov technique, and apply them to a scene work.
Practice the ability to work on different scenes, in a short amount of time (similar to the experience of auditioning) by playing different characters each time, and interacting with various partners.
Work with your body and imagination, and learn to trust their guidance.
Build a craft that’s sustainable and emotionally healthy.
Find presence, freedom, and playfulness in your work.

Who said that acting can not be fun? If it’s not, we should make it fun by using our imagination!

— Fern Sloan (Michael Chekhov technique teacher)

Detailed aspects of “scene work” that you will explore:

Discovering the character's motivations and objectives by using imaginary work.

Developing a clear understanding of what happened to the character right before the scene begins.

Incorporating physicality and movement to enhance character portrayal and the dynamics of the scene.

Paying attention to your scene partner and responding authentically to them.

Our imagination must be able to influence us as actors (...). We give this image our own body and emotions, and the image begins as if to move us - we incorporate the image with our own body.

— Michael Chekhov

I recommend it wholeheartedly. I will definitely work with Jakub again on other acting projects.

Magdalena Lamparska

film and theatre actress

What always impresses me about working with Jakub is his unique, multi-layered, and empathetic view on a character, his willingness to experiment, and his use of extremely vivid images that stimulate the imagination. Jakub, like a few others, is able to effortlessly combine depth and seriousness with a sense of humor and the courage to fool around.

Dominika Handzlik

actress, M. Chekhov technique teacher

Working with Jakub as part of our rehearsals opened us up to each other, helped us delve deeper into the themes through working on psychological gestures and the sensitivity of the space on stage. Thanks to you, we built fully-fledged characters with a whole range of memories that contribute to the effect the audience can ultimately see during the performance.

Zofia Jastrzębska

film and theatre actress

The workshops led by Jakub Margosiak were a breakthrough during rehearsals for "My version of the truth", dir. by Radek Kotarski at Garnizon Sztuki. Workshops allowed us to find more meaning in the words, deepen the characters, and the relationships between them. Thanks to unusual exercises that engage various areas of human energy, we created vivid family relationships, full of secrets and understatement.

Magdalena Lamparska

film and theatre actress

(…) Jakub Margosiak's Ph.D. dissertation bears the hallmarks of a contemporary, expressive, and useful compendium of contemporary applications of Chekhov's technique. (…) It is a renaissance of his exercises, reflections, and accurate observations. (…) It is an energetic shower that relaxes our tensed professional muscles.

Excerpt from a review of J. Margosiak's doctoral dissertation.

Błażej Peszek, PhD

film and theatre actor

Acting coaching with Jakub helped me find the missing link in my thinking about my character, and at the same time allowed me to put together all the fragments of my earlier work. Jakub has extraordinary intuition as an actor and teacher – he is able to guide an actor in a safe manner, while giving them enormous freedom and encouraging them to trust their instincts and creativity.

Dominika Handzlik

actress, teacher of M. Chekhov's technique

To act is to exist in the unknown—this training made me feel at home in unfamiliarity. Without sharing a common language, we built a shared world of trust, creativity, and laughter. Thanks to Jakub and Gregor, I didn’t just grow as an actor — I found a little family.

Sude Nur Yazıcı

actress from Turkey

Workshops with Jakub improved our acting skills a lot. His training is very dynamic - he turns mistakes into opportunities to teach new things. And more importantly, we have learned a technique to better approach different emotions.

Students from Balleteatro Escola Profissional (Portugal)

Check the testimonies of workshop participants

Workshops on M. Chekhov technique led by Jakub Margosiak and Grzegorz Labuda (as part of the Michael Chekhov Acting Lab).

Workshops on M. Chekhov technique for students of the Dance Theater Department, Academy of Theater Arts in Bytom - led by Jakub Margosiak and Grzegorz Labuda.

Workshops on M. Chekhov technique “Transforming Emotions” at the Olga Roriz Company in Lisbon.

About Michael Chekhov technique

Michael Chekhov developed a fully psychophysical acting technique that focuses on the connection between the body, psyche, and imagination. This technique is based on the principle that the movement of our body can change our psychology and evoke certain emotions or psychological states. The unique feature of this technique is to work with imagination - Chekhov teaches us how to trust our imagination and transform into any character.

Famous actors who worked using Michael Chekhov technique:

Marilyn Monroe
Gregory Peck

Clint Eastwood
Beatrice Straight

Anthony Hopkins
Joanna Merlin

Gary Cooper
Mala Powers

Michael Chekhov spent the last years of his life in the US, where he had many students. His technique has been and still is successfully used by many film and theater actors.

My history with M. Chekhov technique

My professional life would have been completely different if I hadn't been persistent enough to trace the origins of this technique in the US. Michael Chekhov technique completely changed my thinking about acting, creativity, and myself. Now I have the great pleasure of sharing it with others.

To read my full story about how I discovered and became fascinated with M. Chekhov technique, and what I gained from it:

click here

I believe that we are all more talented than we seem to be. Actually, I believe that we are all geniuses, but we don’t know it, and we are afraid of it (…)

— Michael Chekhov

About the teacher:

Dr Jakub Margosiak – actor, dancer, director, theatre producer. Graduate of the Acting Department of the PWST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Cracow (Poland), and dance theatre studies at Olga Roriz Formation in Lisbon (Portugal). He completed doctoral studies at the Film School in Lodz (Poland) at the Acting Department. Fulbright scholar for researching M. Chekhov technique in the USA. His doctoral dissertation is entitled “Psycho-physicality and imagination in the actors’ and directors’ work – in reference to Michael Chekhov technique”.

Stage experience:
Founder of Living Space Theatre (creator of award-winning performances: “Ferdydurke,” “Jesus Mary, Refugee!,” “Kaj dzias,” “Shapes”). He has performed in shows directed by Katarzyna Minkowska, Krzysztof Popiołek, K.J. Holmes, Isabelle Schad, Thomas Richards, Hege Haagenrud, and others. He has performed in many countries, including the US, China, Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, and Poland.

Expertise in M. Chekhov technique:
He has been involved in M. Chekhov acting technique since 2018 and is certified as a teacher by Ted Pugh and Fern Sloan. He studied at the Michael Chekhov School in Hudson (USA), as well as completed courses organised by the Michael Chekhov Association, Michael Chekhov Europe, Chekhov Studio Chicago, and Chekhov Studio New York. Founder of the Michael Chekhov Acting Lab.

Teaching experience:
He has conducted workshops among others at: The New School University in New York (USA), School of Fine Arts in Guangzhou (China), Schule für Schauspiel in Hamburg (Germany), Machulski School in Warsaw (Poland), Film School in Lodz (Poland), PWST Academy of Theatre Arts in Bytom (Poland), Balleteatro Escola Profissional in Porto (Portugal), and Busan International Performing Arts Festival (South Korea).

Learn more about me

The workshop consists of:

Main Package:

3 days of workshops – (15h of training!)

Personal feedback with my suggestions on what you can continue working on and improving in your acting (in writing).

Special Package:

Beside the Main Package, you can choose elements from the Special Package:

Follow-up session (1h) – an opportunity to ask questions that occurred to you after the workshops and work on some challenges or uncertainties.

Workbook “Dreaming with Michael Chekhov” by Jakub Margosiak – which is a special selection of materials about the tools covered in the workshop, my comments on them, examples of application, exercises chosen by me, and a list of recommended books and additional sources of inspiration for you. All of that you can receive in a PDF document, which you can easily access no matter where you are.

Individual Coaching Plan – if you want to continue working on your craft, I will prepare an individually tailored plan of individual sessions for you based on my observations after the workshop, the challenges you face, and the goals you want to achieve. One coaching session lasts 60 minutes. The number of sessions in the Individual Coaching Plan depends on your needs and the challenges you want to overcome.

Workshop details: