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 that was translated by its Associate Artistic Director, Curt Columbus, and directed by ensemble member Tina Landau. The play premiered on 4 November 2004 and ran until 5 March 2005 at the Upstairs Theatre. Appearing in the performance were Robert Breuler, Francis Guinan, Amy Morton, Yasen Peyankov, Rondi Reed, Anne Adams, Guy Adkins, Chaon Cross, Leonard Kraft, Julian Martinez, Ned Noyes, Elizabeth Rich, Ben Viccellio, and Chris Yonan. The Atlantic Theatre Company (New York City) in 2005 produced a new adaptation of "The Cherry Orchard" by Tom Donaghy, where much more of the comedy was present as the playwright had