Academic degree education of theatre directors in Russia has continuously developed since1925. This paper discusses the arrangement and basic methodology of this program at contemporary professional theatre school in St. Petersburg. Headmaster teachers at most directing studios rely on their own updated interpretation of various parts and periods of the Stanislavsky Method: "action analysis","étude techniques",and"physical action"; then combine it with structural composition of production as expanded upon by Meyerhold. Trends in theatre school may be divided as classical( with tendency towards realistic representation),non-classical( openly theatrical,metaphorical,metaphysical art),and post-nonclassical( post-dramatic theatre, immersive theatre, site-specific projects, performative practices). Each trend has a specific philosophy and methodology of teaching. Despite many differences,the fundamentals of education in any directing class are training the ability to compose with the use of the language of theatre; translating from the language of literature to the language of stage; reaching integrity on many levels of composition; and to using space,structure and rhythm as means of directing. The fiveyear-long class of directing starts with exercises and études that create material and sources of production.In the next stage,students work with non-dramatic material with a goal of creating all levels of theatrical action from level zero. Later,when staging dramatic scenes,they create theatrical action structure and reject both the illustration of literature and the imitation of authentic life through composing theatrical equivalents. This paper includes interviews with presentations of teaching methods by three prominent directors with different artistic mentalities: Mikhail Ilyin,Anatoly Praudin,and Andrei Moguchy.