Khabensky at the gathering of the troupe spoke about the special operation

11:00. Courtyard of the Art Theater in Kamergersky Lane. A few die-hard photographers capture the cool cars of the stars that drive in – self-confident Mercedes, solid BMWs and other SUVs. Kristina Babushkina appears on the threshold of the entrance: a tall, spectacular trouser suit.

At the service entrance, in the foyer of the first floor, I am surprised – the busts of the founding fathers (Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko) and successor fathers (Efremov and Tabakov) have disappeared from here. They were blown away by the wind – the question is, where? The buffet is empty, only a few students, but a lot of delicious food – cheesecakes, scrambled eggs, a lunch of many dishes and not at all a canteen look on the way.

11:45 Already in the hall. As is often the case in the theatre: there seemed to be no one, and suddenly everyone is already here. Stanislav Andreevich Lyubshin is in excellent shape, he says that he read my article with the results of the theatrical season and praised it. It is worth a lot from such a Master, who has not stained himself with anything in his long life in art.

She did not immediately recognize Natalya Tenyakova – in a medical mask, but her magical voice with a sipinka … She invites her to her solo performance “Moscow Speaks”, which she plays on the New Stage, the smallest of the Moscow Art Theater scenes. But for her grandiose talent, size does not matter – every centimeter will be filled with her incredible energy.

Corpulent Moscow Art Theater men are all as one, in black – Stoyanov, Duzhnikov, Zolotovitsky. But no, Dmitry Nazarov appears in a sky blue suit. And what is Igor Mirkurbanov doing here, also in black, by the way? He serves in Lenkom or moved to Khabensky, but I don’t know?

– No, I’m at Lenkom, but they invited me here. I’m releasing “Optimistic Tragedy” by Kostya Bogomolov here.

– Who do you play?

– A lot of people.

The black masculine gamut is blown up by the bright yellow suit of Marina Zudina. “I thought that it was already autumn, and I wanted something joyful.” A few minutes later, Pavel Tabakov will also appear, cut almost to the role. Probably for the cinema, which Pasha loves more than the theater. Yes, the theater is selective and often blind, it often misses talent – here are Zhenya Dobrovolskaya, Masha Zorina, other experienced actresses and actors of the Artistic Theater, who are still at a good age, but it’s short-lived … I just want to gather young directors and say: “Guys , open your eyes, unstuck from the stars, which are often not stars at all.

– I’m filming now with Bondarchuk in the TV series “Actresses,” Zhenya Dobrovolskaya tells me, as if she had read my thoughts.

And in the first, that is, in the honorable seventh row – Miroshnichenko, Lyubshin, Skorik, the Kindinov couple, Galina and Evgeny, behind them. The head of the family quoted Blok to me: “Know where the light is, you will understand where the darkness is.” This is his introduction to the poem “Retribution”. I love her very much, she has so much meaning.

12:10. The last to enter the hall is Konstantin Khabensky. This is his first gathering of the troupe at the Artistic, which he headed at the end of October last year. A loose white shirt, steel-colored trousers, glasses, and white sheets of paper in his hands. He is visibly worried. Nevertheless, he is interested in whether everything is in place – a school-studio? The gallery filled with students answers him in unison. “Is there a museum?” – Khabensky is again interested. An affirmative, but not so loud, answer from quiet museum workers, who, in my memory, seem to have been remembered at a general meeting for the first time in many years.

And by the way, the Moscow Art Theater Museum will be 100 years old this season, and the artistic director invites everyone, including students, to walk around its branches – what if an interesting idea comes up? But Konstantin Yuryevich Khabensky will not begin his speech with this.

“A special military operation is underway,” he begins in silence. – Almost every day, people die – guys doing their professional duty and just peaceful people.

The theater is a living organism, it must know, see, feel it all. We are not obliged to comment on events, but we must feel the situation, feel the mood of the viewer and why they come to us.

In this regard, I had to abandon some of the names that were announced in January-December of the last season. Just as a human being, it seems to me wrong now to take new material for the stage of the Art Theater, which would somehow ironically, scoff. Let’s try to give the viewer something different, give them the opportunity to look into themselves. Maybe a little calm down, see the people who are next to us and hear them.

And the second reason for the cancellations or postponements of the premiere is the copyright for the production. What used to be decided in a couple of months, today stretches for an indefinite period. It’s a matter of patience and time. But in this situation, they lose more than we do. It is with these thoughts of mine that I suggest that we all enter the 125th anniversary season.

There was a pause, and then there was applause. The artistic director pleased the team with news – the President of Russia signed a decree on the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Art Theater.

Well, then he announced the plans and strategic directions in which the Art Theater will develop under the direction of Konstantin Khabensky. One of them is charitable, to which many projects are directed, in particular, “Art-Hub” – a project, as the name implies, of Konstantin himself and on which he relies. There will even be a digital project.

But the number of new productions is downright record-breaking – there are 16 of them. Among the directors are masters and young ones: Anatoly Vasiliev, Konstantin Bogomolov, Mikhail Rakhlin, Denis Azarov, Alla Sigalova, Marina Brusnikina, Yuri Muravitsky and others.

And the Moscow Art Theater will celebrate the 95th anniversary of Oleg Efremov, in which only three people will participate – dancer Sergei Polunin, pianist Andrei Korabelnikov and Khabensky himself. And he also established an award for young people – up to 35 years old. The first ceremony will take place on Theater Day.