On April 29, 2012, the first showing for public of Nikolay Marton’s one-man-show: “Monologues in the Tsar’s Lobby” will take place at 3 pm. Nikolay Marton is the leading actor of the senior generation of the Alexandrinsky Theater actors. The performance still is in the state of creation and so far it has a working name of “Monologues in the Tsar’s Lobby.”

On April 24, 2012, the Ninth All-Russia Festival of Theater Arts for Children concluded its work. The Festival was taking place under the frames of the Russian Federation Ministry of Culture Program of State and Public Support of Theaters for Children and Teenagers under patronage of the President of Russia. The Festival Program included ten contest and eight out-of-contest performances, as well as a special program. In the evening of April 24, a theatricalized Award Ceremony took place at the State Musical Zazerkalye Theater for Children. In the course of the ceremony, Andrey Moguchy’s performance “The Fortune” was awarded with the Russian national Harlequin Theater Prize in four nominations: “The Best Performance;” “The Best Female Role” – Yanina Lakoba for the role of Mitil; “The Best Artistic Composition of the Performance” – Artist Alexander Shishkin; and “The Best Composer’s Job” - Alexander Manotskov.

The First Globe Okhta Festival of school performances in the English language took place on April 5 and 6, 2012. The Festival was organized by the Information and Methodology Center of the Krasnogvardeisky District, School #531, and the Globe Creative Association. Teams from 22 schools took part in the festival. School children of junior grades competed on the first day. The Alexandrinsky Charitable Foundation provided awards for them: each participant received two theater tickets to see “Happiness” and a puzzle.

On April 7, 2012, A. Moguchy and K. Filippov’s performance “HAPPINESS” will be shown in Moscow under the frames of the Russian National Golden Mask Theater Festival. This performance was put forward in four nominations: “The Best Big Form Drama Performance;” “The Best Director’s Job” (Director Andrey Moguchy); “The Best Female Role” (Yanina Lakoba for the role of Mitil); and “The Best Artist’s Job” (Alexander Shishkin). The presentations will take place on the stage of Chekhov MKhT at 1 PM and 5 PM. On the eve, on April 6, a press-conference dedicated to “The New Creative Program of the Alexandrinsky Theater” will take place at 5 PM at Chekhov MKhT.

Today, on the eve of the International Theater Day, Andrey Moguchy started rehearsing of a new performance on the stage of the Schauspielhaus Theater (Dusseldorf, Germany): he is going to produce F. Kafka’s “Trial” here. The performance will have no traditional adaptation translating the novel’s text into a dramatic form. As was the case with “The Ivans” after N. Gogol’s writings, “The Trial” will become a peculiar “trip” into the space of the unique prose of the author, the Kafka’s heroes’ world. The Director puts quite a task for himself: to communicate “not the letter but the spirit” of a prose composition and express the world of Kafka’s images by the specific theater language: translate the stylistics of his whimsical prose into the stage language.

Artistic Director of the Alexandrinsky Theater Valery Fokin was elected Chair of the Theater Directors Guild of Russia. Interview with Valery Fokin was published in the blog of “The St. Petersburg Theater Magazine.” Fokin answered questions of the magazine’s Chief Editor Marina Dmitrevskaya. In the interview, entitled “On the Necessity to Resurrect the Directors Guild,” he spoke in details about the goals and objectives of the Guild, its program of assistance to young directors, conditions of joining the Guild, and perspectives of the modern theater development. Well known theater directors – Yury Butusov, Sergey Zhenovach, Yevgeny Kamenkovich, Boris Mandzhiyev, Yevgeny Marchelly – became members of the Guild, while Andrey Moguchy became a Consultant of the Guild’s Board.

On February 27, 2012, a press-conference “The New Theater Center of the Alexandrinsky Theater. Creation of the Digital Content in the Cultural Sphere” dedicated to establishment of an educational and creative center to be opened in St. Petersburg in 2013 and affiliated with the Alexandrinsky Theater will take place at the ITAR-TASS Press Center (#37 Shpalernaya Str.) at 2 pm.

On February 17, 2012, Distinguished Artist of Russia Semyon Sytnik will celebrate his 65th birthday. On this jubilee date, Semyon Sytnik will appear on the Alexandrinsky Stage in one of his roles of the last years: the role of Professor Serebryakov in A. Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” (Director Andrey Shcherban). Semyon Sytnik was awarded with the top St. Petersburg theater prize “The Golden Soffit” for this role. The last decade turned into a true renaissance for this excellent actor: he has played a series of roles in performances of such different producers as...

On February 10, 2012, Alexander Pushkin’s memorial date, the “Eugene Onegin” music and poetry composition after S. Prokofiev’s music will be presented on the stage of the St. Petersburg Kapella. Prokofiev wrote his music in 1936 for a performance of the Chamber Theater under Alexander Tairov’s direction. The performance was banned, while its score had been kept at the theater’s archives for a long time. Later on, Gennady Rozhdestvensky included parts of Prokofiev’s composition into his Pushkiniana Suite, and Mikhail Yurovsky undertook recording of its full version with the symphony orchestra and choir of the Berlin Radio. In 1980, a radio show based on the musical composition was created; it was prepared by the choir of the Moscow Stanislavsky Theater and the Big Symphony Orchestra of the Central Television and the All-Union Radio.

On February 14, 2012, opening ceremony of the exhibit dedicated to Alexander Shervashidze, Artist of the Imperial Stage, will start at 4 PM at the St. Petersburg State Theater Library. This is a mutual project of the St. Petersburg State Theater Library and the Alexandrinsky Theater dedicated the 145th birthday of the outstanding Russian stage designer. The exhibit will be open until March 20.