A theatrical battle took place in Moscow under the cover of the “Night of the Arts”

She was visited by the new head of the city Department of Culture Alexey Fursin

As part of the All-Russian event “Night of Arts” in the New Manege, a battle of private theaters took place for the right to release the premiere in the Open Theater Space “Art Platform”. She was also visited by the new head of the Moscow Department of Culture, Alexey Fursin.

In the Art Platform space, non-state theaters fought for the right to produce a new play in the New Manege, and this is already the third season of the TheaterONstage program. The selection of participants was tough: out of 200 applications, only 10 teams reached the semi-finals, which took place on the “Night of Arts”. They were also put under very strict conditions: each had only 5 minutes to present their project to the audience and the expert commission. This time, the experts of the TheaterONstage program were the director of the theater. E. Vakhtangov Kirill Krok, chief director of the Mark Zakharov Lenkom Theater Alexey Frandetti, director-choreographer, chief choreographer of the Satire Theater Sergei Zemlyansky, professor of the Moscow Art Theater School Viktor Ryzhakov, director, artist, deputy director for artistic production and technical issues musical theater “Helikon-Opera” Rostislav Protasov, professor of the Moscow Art Theater School Olga Egoshina and editor of the department of literature and art “MK” Marina Raikina. The theatrical battle was observed not only by those who came to the New Manege, but also by spectators who followed it online.

The competition was opened by the new head of the Moscow Department of Culture, Alexey Fursin, and it is significant that he came specifically to the shows of young groups in need of state support. He said briefly, as if he himself was under tight timing, that “a great responsibility for the meanings lies on the shoulders of all creators… and that the activities of private theaters are becoming a new significant stage in the development of theatrical art both in Moscow and in Russia.”

But what can you show in five minutes? This is also a kind of art – to present your future performance in a short period of time in such a way as to convince the audience and the jury that it is talented and unlike anything else. It must be admitted that not everyone was up to this task. The Brusnikin team got away with credits on the screen, from which everyone should have understood how the theme of generational conflict would develop. They paid for such arrogance – they flew by. But in five minutes they spoke brightly and ironically about their work: “THIS is a Russian modern dance company” with the production “4 people with different opinions about everything”, the team of Alexander Skorobogatov with the psychological drama “Natasha’s Dream”, where the leading actress was memorable, “Theater TDM” with the production “Exhibit N” based on the story of the same name by Boris Vasiliev, directed by Ekaterina Dubakina. The five finalists also included the “Workshop of Musical Thinking” with the zong opera “Morphine” based on the story of the same name by Mikhail Bulgakov (directed by Alexander Ginzburg) and the team of Pyotr Kurtov with the mythical drama with the trial and the opera “Voices in the Dark”. The votes of viewers who voted online were also taken into account when calculating the points.

And already in January, the finalists will present 40-minute excerpts of their projects and then the winner of the program will be determined, who will receive funding for the production of the play in the New Manege space and, importantly, distribution throughout the entire theater season. The new production will be released in a year.