Moscow Regional Drama Theatre named after A.N. Ostrovsky

Each stage of the history of the Moscow Regional Drama Theater named after A. Ostrovsky capaciously and accurately reflects the features of a particular time. The 4th kolkhoz-sovkhoz Mikhailovsky Theatre was created on the basis of the theater brigade of the Frunze House of Education Workers. The brigade was led by the artist of M. Gorky Moscow Artist Sergey Nikolaevich Sverchkov. Everyone who wants to join the brigade must be a member of the trade union, pass entrance tests that determine his theatrical abilities, and in every possible way contribute to the growth and strengthening of the brigade. January 18, 1935 in the city of Mikhailov, Moscow region performance "Albina Megurskaya" on the play Shapovalenko opened the 4th collective farm theater of the Moscow region. Then it worked 14 actors, artistic director and stage machinist. During the first half of the year, at his station and in trains on the "fixed theater" Mikhailovsky, Zakharovsky, Serebryano-Prudsky and Bolshoy-Korovinsky districts, the new troupe played for 14.5 thousand collective farmers, workers and employees. In the repertoire of the theater there were: “On a bright spot” by A. Ostrovsky (nominated for the All-Russian Review of Kolkhoz Theaters), “Anniversary”, “Proposal”, “Witch”, “Night before the Court” (then, as now, one-act comedies-vadevils of A. Chekhov were incredibly loved by theaters and spectators). After the performances, the actors conducted conversations and discussions with the audience. In the first years of its existence, the theater was awarded the “transitional Red Banner of collective farm theaters”, and its actors and directors were repeatedly awarded diplomas and diplomas. Although these first years were largely experimental for the new theater, by 1938 it had become one of the strongest groups in the Department of Theatre and Entertainment Enterprises of the Moscow Executive Committee. Up to 250 shows a year. A significant step forward in craftsmanship - the play "Skapen's tricks" by Moliere (shown 135 times!) The repertoire includes works by A. Ostrovsky, M. Gorky, K. Trenev. In January 1940, the theater celebrated its fifth anniversary. By this time he had visited 300 cities and villages of Moscow, Tula, Ryazan regions and played 20 premieres. And in Europe there was already a fire of war, which soon became a world war and crossed the borders of our country. In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, the repertoire was changed. This was partly due to the fact that several actors went to the front, in the active army. But the main reason was different – the repertoire had to be replenished with performances that would be consonant with the time. Renewed the play “Love Spring” based on the play Trenev. And then in the poster there were productions of “Partizan in the steppes of Ukraine” based on the play by A. Korneychuk and “Immortal” based on the play by A. Arbuzov and A. Gladkov. At the same time, a “front brigade” was formed in the theater. The actors P. Kuleshov, F. Sevastyanov, G. Sorokin, A. Pleskachevsky and others, the Bayanist V. Tsvetkov, the stage worker N. Nazarov on the Kalinin and Karelian fronts gave 213 performances and concerts. These were not only “agitations” or mischievous satirical performances, but also serious, deep performances. On June 25, 1943, the theater received a thank you from the Executive Committee of the Moscow Council. During this time, the structure of the theater and its leadership have changed. The cast was updated, and the theater itself became known (since September 12, 1942) as the Moscow Regional Kolkhoz Drama Theatre named after A. Ostrovsky. Everyone remembers the front roads differently. There were terrible moments, and those that were then remembered by the participants of the “front brigade” with a cheerful laugh. As always, life has been transformed into countless acting stories. And maybe in time, they will become the basis of the play about how the actors went to the front. The name of the great Russian playwright and one of the reformers of the Russian stage is not by chance. At its origins - such masters of the famous troupe "House of Ostrovsky" - the Maly Theatre, as a wonderful actress and teacher Vera Pashenna. In the 1930s, two seemingly mutually exclusive processes took place in our country in the world. They came together and “merged” small groups. “Stationed” – as if attached to a certain city “wandering collectives” (and there were many of them since the Civil War and the first post-war years). The "homeless troupes" thus received buildings, some certainty and perspective. But at the same time, new theaters were created, whose task was to “serve the hinterland”. Several such groups were formed in the suburbs, even having a rehearsal base, they were originally conceived as traveling. In order to immediately set a serious creative level, these groups were “strengthened” or patronized by major masters from famous theaters. That is how one of the Moscow suburban troupes, created in 1935 with the support of V.N. Pashenna and other masters of the Maly Theatre, and organized at the same time the 4th kolkhoz-sovkhoz Mikhailovsky Theatre, were subsequently merged into a collective named after A.N. Ostrovsky. It is difficult to imagine this eternal “wheeled life”. Performances in unsuitable venues. Preparation for the performance in cold couches, fenced off from the public and the buffet with screens or just rags. It happened to make up and change into costumes of characters right on the bus. And what buses they were! These ruins required constant repairs. Only much later, almost two decades after the Victory, the so-called “Furtsevo buses” appeared under the Minister of Culture V. Furtseva: something like ordinary small-sized “paziks”, in which the rear part was fenced off and turned into a cargo bay for decorations. But in these conditions, long before the theater. A. Ostrovsky, together with other regional stage groups, moved to the huge building of MODI - the Moscow Regional House of Arts in the capital Kuzminki, - remarkable stage masters worked in the theater. These are such well-known in previous years and now directors as Georgy Tovstonogov, Felix Sakalis, Efim Tabachnikov, Roman Viktyuk ... And no less famous, brilliant artists of previous years - Alla Tarasova, Lyudmila Arinina, Mikhail Zharov, Lev Borisov, Georgy Balandin, Svetlana Korkoshko, Svetlana Bragarnik ... Usually, in the minds of people, changes in a country do not add up in a succession, but are perceived as a series of episodes going on in disorder after each other. But in the fate of one person, and especially in the history of the theater, the old truth is true: “It was not started by us, it will not end with us.” In times of stagnation, in the brew of perestroika and after perestroika years Mosobldramtheater named after A. Ostrovsky continued to change, develop and communicate with new generations of spectators. This life and this work, reflecting the hopes and disappointments, delusions and insights of contemporaries, were meaningful - although not always straightforward and understandable to the participants themselves. And to its 70th anniversary, the theater came renewed: in the repertoire and directing, in the leadership and cast. This did not happen by itself, but was the result of the previous stage. During the 30th anniversary from the late 50s to the end of the 80s, the famous classical and foreign things were staged in the theater, for example - Stepanchikovo Village by F. Dostoevsky, Bespridannitsa, Late Love by A. Ostrovsky, The Girl with a Jug by Lope de Vega, The Marriage of Figaro by P. Beaumarche, the favorite children's subjects, as well as the works of our best modern authors - A. Stein, G. Baklanov, V. Tendryakov, V. Zhrostov, V. I. I. V. Performances were staged by such notable directors as I. Reichelhaus, V. Portnov and others. And the composition of the actors of older and middle age, which now forms the backbone of the troupe. And the theater itself has found its current home - in MODI (Moscow Regional House of Arts) in the capital Kuzminki.