Alexander Artyom member of the Art and Litearture Society where he had met Konstantin Stanislavski a year earlier. In 1898 Artemyev became a member of the original Moscow Art Theatre troupe and in its first season made himself quite a name, having appeared in "Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich" (Bogdan Kryukov), "Men Above the Law" (Devochkin), "The Seagull" (Shamrayev, all 1898), as well as "Uncle Vanya" (Telegin, 1899). Anton Chekhov referred to Artyom as his favourite MAT actor and wrote the part of Firs in "The Cherry Orchard" especially for him. The master of episode, he was, according to Stanislavsky, "the epitome of modesty
The Cherry Orchard her and bring her home to Russia. They are accompanied by Yasha, Ranevskaya's valet who was with her in France. Upon returning, the group is met by Lopakhin, Dunyasha, Varya (who has overseen the estate in Ranevskaya's absence), Leonid Andreyevich Gayev, Boris Borisovich Simeonov-Pishchik, Semyon Yepikhodov, and Firs. Lopakhin has come to remind Ranevskaya and Gayev that their estate, including the cherry orchard, is due to go to auction in August to pay off the family's debts. He proposes to save the estate by allowing part of it to be developed into summer cottages; however, this would require the destruction