They were the first to stage Ansky's "The Dybbuk". Early versions of the play were written variously in Russian and Yiddish, but Russian director and method acting pioneer Stanislavski (who first encountered the work in Russian) made several suggestions to Ansky. One of these was that for the sake of authenticity the piece should be in Yiddish. Stanislavski's death prevented the play from being produced at the Moscow Art Theater. At the time of Ansky's death, on November 8, 1920, the play was complete but had never been professionally produced. As a tribute to Ansky, the Vilna troupe, under the direction of David Herman, utilised the 30-day period of mourning after his death to prepare the play, which opened December 9, 1920, at the Elysium Theatre in Warsaw. Its unanticipated success established the play as a classic of modern Yiddish theater.