On the afternoon of May 19, 2014, the seminar themed as “Theatre Education in Europe and North America” was held in Changping Campus of the Central Academy of Drama, China (CAD). The seminar was chaired by Prof. Peng Tao and A/Prof. Li Yinan from the Department of Dramatic Literature of CAD. It focused on the influence of the Stanislavsky system on European and North American theatre, and on cross-cultural exchanges between Eastern and Western theatre, as well as its expression in theatre education.

Prof. Ma Zhenghong with Universidad del Valle (Colombia) was the first speaker. She made a new interpretation regarding the real Stanislavsky system and its representation in the political context. First, she touched upon the inheritance and development of the Stanislavsky system by several Russian directors, then expressed her interest in the concept of "Dramatic Game", before she offered some instances of how the system was spread in Latin America.

Prof. Liu Hongmei from the Department of Musical Theatre of CAD answered the question of how the Stanislavsky system was taught in China, explaining that CAD attached great importance to stage action when teaching the system. Then, professors from National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts (China) and Chung-Ang University (Korea) added that they were also inspired the system in terms of physical acting, and further discussed the integration of outer body languages and actions motivated by inner emotions.

The professors from the European theatre institutions said that they, too, imparted Stanislavsky’s ideas to students, but at the same time they compared it with other systems such as Brecht's. According to them, young people in Europe tended to apply various theatre systems and methods, and they had diverse focuses when it comes to the research of scripts, texts, and specific aspects such as sound, body, and breath.

In the discussion of cross-cultural theatre, Professor Snejina Tankovska from Bulgaria explained that the cultivation of students’ ability and temperament was a long-term work, process of which was more important than its result, so platforms were vital to training artists. She mentioned that the younger generation growing up in the Internet age tended to have difficulty in perceiving the complicated conflicts and moods in life, and this would be an objective difficulty to theatre education. But on the other hand, the Internet also optimized the students' knowledge structure, which might lead to greater creativity. She added that there were misunderstandings during the cultural exchanges between China and the Western world, but the misreading of culture might somehow be beneficial. The final part of the discussions centered on the collision of Eastern and Western cultures and philosophies, and the theatre exchanges against the backdrop of the world’s overall environment.