Annotation: The published diaries of Alisa Koonen (1887-1974), the great actress and wife of director Alexander Tairov, cover almost half a century and contain valuable facts about the history of the life of three theaters: the Moscow Art Theatre, the Svobodny Theatre, and the Kamerny Theatre. Alongside the author of these diaries, the reader travel along the path from an ardent high school student to a renowned actress who loses both her theatre and her husband-director. Large sections of the diaries are missing—most likely destroyed by the author. Nevertheless, in spite of these gaps, the surviving record vividly depict the actress’s relationships with prominent personalities such Konstantin Stanislavski, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Olga Knipper-Chekhova, Edward Gordon Craig, Alexander Scriabin, and others. Koonen's diaries are emotional and frank, focused on the inner world of the actress, full of impulses and passions—not at all like her restrained memoirs, which were written at the end of her life. Koonen’s diaries are accompanied here by detailed comments based on archival materials.