Vladimir Mashkov was elected as the new chairman of the Union of Theater Workers (STD)

An extraordinary congress of the Union of Theater Workers (STD) of the Russian Federation was held in Moscow. People’s Artist of Russia, artistic director of the Oleg Tabakov Theater Vladimir Mashkov was elected as the new chairman of the union. Comments Esther Steinbock.

Vladimir Mashkov, as chairman of the theater union, replaced Alexander Kalyagin, also a people’s artist and artistic director of another Moscow theater (Et Cetera). Kalyagin led the theater community for more than a quarter of a century – since 1996, once, in turn, taking the baton from People’s Artist and then head of the Vakhtangov Theater Mikhail Ulyanov. That is why many of the candidates discussed on the sidelines of the theater community, like the current director of the Vakhtangov Theater Kirill Krok, did not inspire confidence: the head of the theatrical union, according to tradition, should be an actor, and a famous one, one whom people have seen on TV many times and from whom The bosses are thrilled and cannot refuse his requests.

Moreover, one of the tasks of the union is social and charitable, which means there are many requests to the authorities.

Another task of the chairman is to communicate between the authorities (after all, the STD is a public organization only in name; it exists mainly on state subsidies, that is, in a sense, it is more of a theater ministry than a trade union) and the theater community, which is not all and is not always located , to put it mildly, is delighted with the actions of the authorities. In principle, Alexander Kalyagin handled this delicate role satisfactorily for most of his long mandate. He was favored in the highest offices, and he, a brilliant actor, knew how to have a heart-to-heart talk with theater people, and if necessary, to calm them down. In general, he, like a cartoon character speaking in a Kalyagin voice, managed to convince everyone to “live in harmony.”

The stumbling block in many ways turned out to be the “Golden Mask”, in whose affairs Kalyagin did not particularly interfere. But when persecution began against her from the authorities, it was the theatrical union under his leadership that was chosen somewhere up there as the main instrument of pressure.

In the last year and a half, the situation has worsened. Alexander Kalyagin could not and probably did not want to contradict the authorities, but tension in the ranks of the union grew: the chairman had to assemble a secretariat, respond to appeals and accusations, dodge, often contradicting facts.

Ultimately, he lost his authority in the eyes of both management and the theater community. In other, peaceful conditions, he probably would have been allowed to serve out the entire term – and during this time, find a new candidate.

But we had to act radically. A few weeks ago, Kalyagin announced that he was convening an extraordinary congress of the STD. In response to objections that there were no funds in the organization’s budget to hold it, he explained that the presidential administration would help, and thereby “explained” why it was necessary to convene the forum and why objections were inappropriate. At the same time, 81-year-old Kalyagin made it clear that he intended to retire: they say, it’s time to “give way to the young.” They were able to prepare the congress literally on fire. “We did the unthinkable: in one month we did the work that we usually do over the course of a year,” said Alexander Kalyagin in his speech at the congress.

They said different things the day before. For example, that there will no longer be unity of command, and the bosses want to see Vladimir Mashkov and for some reason Valery Gergiev as co-chairs of the union – but for the time being, the version looked too exotic. During the emergency meeting itself, there was some intrigue. Alexander Kalyagin proposed People’s Artist of Russia Alexander Lazarev from Lenkom as a successor. But he recused himself, citing the fact that he was soon to receive an appointment as the head of one of the Moscow theaters (as if this had previously prevented someone from heading the STD). Whether this meant that Kalyagin was even deprived of the privilege of finding his own successor is not entirely clear. Among other candidates, seemingly put forward by regional branches, were the famous Yakut director Andrei Borisov, the already mentioned Kirill Krok, Valery Gergiev and Vladimir Mashkov. But everyone withdrew their candidacies, so in the end they voted for Mashkov alone – and chose him: 176 votes for, 20 against.

60-year-old Vladimir Mashkov (rejuvenation, therefore, has not become too radical, although it obviously takes place) has long and clearly demonstrated that the management will not have any problems with him. Although the current procedures in the STD have not yet provided for this, after his election he, indeed, nominated Valery Gergiev as “co-chairman for musical activities” – and the candidacy was approved by a majority vote. Gergiev had not previously been in any way involved in the activities of the STD, and did not show any interest in it at all. But at present, the union is faced with the task of urgently reformatting the “Golden Mask”, which covers all kinds of genres of musical theater, too, so in these types the leadership of the STD considered it necessary to strengthen it with some authoritative “musical” figure. And who could be more authoritative than sole manager Mariinsky and Bolshoi theaters at once? Solitaire has worked out.