To the anniversary of the Art Theater

TASS hosted a press conference dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the Moscow Art Theatre. Chekhov, the 100th anniversary of the Moscow Art Theater Museum and the 80th anniversary of the Moscow Art Theater School. The speakers were artistic director Konstantin Khabensky, rector of the Studio School Igor Zolotovitsky and director of the museum Sofia Gracheva.

Konstantin Khabensky spoke about new projects as part of the anniversary celebrations. In 2023, the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov Institute establishes an annual Artistic Theater Award, which will be awarded to support young talents in eight categories (“theatre”, “opera”, “ballet”, “cinema”, “literature”, “contemporary visual arts”, “classical music”, “contemporary academic music”). The first award ceremony will take place on March 27, International Theater Day.

Konstantin Khabensky: “I think it is not worth explaining why the help and support of young talents is needed. We would like to celebrate new talents with our award. This is the first award, and I very much hope, I am even sure, that we will hold it every year… Now we are creating a new repertoire and a new face of the Art Theater, while preserving the old traditions. But at the same time, we look to the future of our culture by establishing the Art Theater Prize.”

The 125th anniversary of the Moscow Art Theater will be celebrated on October 26. On this day, the premiere dedication performance “Jubilee of Anniversaries” based on the play by Yulia Pospelova and staged by Denis Azarov will be played on the Main Stage. The play was specially written for the theater on the basis of documentary material. According to Konstantin Khabensky, “This is a story about the relationship of two people who are in love with each other and in love with the theater. A story of metaphorical love that has been going on since the foundation of the Moscow Art Theatre, through all the anniversaries up to the present day.” Among the premieres of the anniversary year: Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya directed by Denis Azarov, Lermontov’s Masquerade directed by Pyotr Shereshevsky, Shakespeare’s As You Like It directed by Yuri Muravitsky. The play by Nemirovich-Danchenko “The Price of Life” will be staged by Nikolai Skorik, and the play “My name will not tell you anything” based on the book “Letters to the Art Theater 1898-1928.” – Marina Brusnikina. The performance based on the play “The Curtain” by Andrei Stadnikov, written specifically for the Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. Chekhov, will be staged by Yuri Kvyatkovsky.

Together with the Moscow Art Theater Museum, the theater will present in the Portrait Foyer an exhibition dedicated to the celebration of anniversaries in various years, as well as the multimedia project “Branches and Roots” with elements of the “Artistic Fiction” video tour. Together with the Central Bank, it is planned to issue a commemorative collectible coin. The AST publishing house will publish a commemorative photo album dedicated to the history of the Art Theater – from its origins to the present day.

The theater’s anniversary tour began in October 2022 in Kazan and will continue in St. Petersburg as part of the traditional exchange tour with the Alexandrinsky Theater (March-April of this year), later other cities of Russia will also take over the baton. In September 2023, as part of the anniversary tour, the theater will travel to Kazakhstan and visit, among other things, the city of Baikonur. Performances are scheduled to be shown during the launch of the Russian crew of cosmonauts to the ISS. The theater team will see off the Russian crew to the ISS and will hand over the symbol of the Moscow Art Theater – Chaika – to the cosmonauts.

This year, the theater will revive cooperation with the international festival “Melikhovskaya Spring” in the village of Melikhovo near Moscow, where the most fruitful years in the life of A.P. Chekhov passed, and will present the “Landscape Theater” project at this festival, the mission of which is to popularize regional theaters through cooperation with Moscow Art Theater A.P. Chekhov.

The Kultura TV channel will air a series of programs “Five Evenings at Kamergersky” in the “theatre living room” genre with the participation of actors of different generations of the Moscow Art Theater and the inner circle of those who are vitally connected with the Art Theater. The channel also plans to broadcast three performances from the theatre’s current repertoire, the dedication performance Anniversary of Anniversaries, and retrospectives of the performances of the Moscow Art Theater from the funds of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company and performances filmed by the Kultura TV channel.

Sofya Gracheva: “We want to talk about the Moscow Art Theater not only with theater critics, but also with those who, perhaps, do not quite understand its value, do not know what the revolutionary character of this theater was. We plan to solve this problem by theatrical means, including leaving the traditional museum exhibition, an unusual interactive action should turn out.” An exhibition dedicated to the Art Theater will also appear on the boulevards of Moscow.

The Moscow Art Theater School is also organizing an exhibition in the New Manezh called “We are 80: A Family Album”. Igor Zolotovitsky: “I would like not only theatrical people who already know the theater to come, but also those who just want to know it. Therefore, a lot of interactive activities, different exhibition areas are planned. The school-studio, founded in 1943, was conceived in order to support theaters with young people, including the Moscow Art Theater. And I am grateful to Konstantin Yuryevich for how closely the Moscow Art Theater and the Moscow Art Theater School are now connected, this is very important.

Irina Shvedova.

Author’s photo