The Ministry of Culture, the Roskontsentr and GITIS have launched a project that makes it possible to stage productions by graduates of the institute in other countries.

"WE ARE FORMING CREATIVE TEAMS..."

Rector of GITIS Grigory Zaslavsky said that the idea of the project was born two years ago in Kaliningrad, but the pandemic made adjustments here as well.

"The project came to fruition thanks to the Ministry of Culture of Russia, the support of Roskontsert. But if there had been no mutual desire, nothing would have come of it... The first rehearsals began back in the buzzer. But already in April of this year there were two premieres. The first was in Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan, at the Maxim Gorky Russian Theatre and the second was in the town of Taras in southern Kazakhstan, not far from Uzbekistan. The second premiere was in Taras, a town in southern Kazakhstan near Uzbekistan, where the play "Jesters" by Aleksandr Ostrovsky was performed," he said.

The project is extremely important because in addition to international co-operation it allows for the formation of creative teams, he said. "It is no secret that the most important thing for a director is to find his artist, his choreographer - from this commonwealth are born great theaters, like Stanislavsky theater, Efroa theater, not a theater-building, but a certain concept of theater," - explained Zaslavsky.

EXPORT OF CULTURE

Rector of GITISA noted that the organizers of the project hope to develop it in 2022. "We want graduates from our other wonderful theatrical universities to join it," Zaslavsky noted.

"We are waiting for the theaters to open in the north of Russia, in the northwest of Russia, too, as happened in Kazakhstan, where it was thought that theater is a place where people become healthier," he added.

For her part, Svetlana Kondratieva, Rosconcert's deputy general director, noted that the project's geography will also expand.

"In addition to what has already been released, the graduates will perform. performances in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, in the future other countries will also join. This is a very interesting project, and it will end with a performance of Nikolai Gogol's 'The Inspector General' in Bishkek," she said.

There is also potential for developing "cultural exports" in the Baltics, said Filipp Los, artistic director of the Russian Theatre of Estonia.

"We want the names of young directors from Russia to be heard in full force, to be discussed by Russian and Estonian press, to be talked about, to be argued about. We really look forward to the project and we really want it," Los said.

He noted that the Russian Theatre of Estonia has maintained close ties with GITIS for many years.

"In past years, we have consistently held director's labs for graduates of the university, and the winners have staged productions at our stage. The new project expands the opportunities for theatre graduates and the outlook of our theatre. We want every such production to be an event in Estonia," Los concluded.

Made in Russia / Made in Russia

Author: Maria Buzanakova