Marat Gatsalov graduated from the Actor Department of VGIK (All-Russia State Institute of Culture) in 2000 (I. Raikelgauz’s course) and the Director Department of RATI-GITIS (Russian Academy of Theater Arts / State Institute of Theater Arts) in 2009 (S. Artsibashev and Yu. Ioffe’s course). Marat Gatsalov’s diploma performance Bits and Pieces was included in the “Russian Case” Program of the Golden Mask National Theater Award.
In 1998 – 2001, he worked as an actor at the “School of Modern Plays” Theater. In 2005 – 2008, he works as an actor of the Moscow Vl. Mayakovsky Theater. His first theater producer job was the Life Is Good performance, which Marat Gatsalov directed in cooperation with Mikhail Ugarov (a joint project of A. Kazantsev and M. Rpshchin’s “Theater.doc” and the Center of Drama and Production). This performance was included in the contest program of the Golden Mask Festival and had received a special award of the Drama Theater Jury in the “Experiment” nomination.
Marat Gatsalov has produced six drama performances as director; he had also filmed two series and developed the 15th Award Ceremony for the Golden Mask Award; he created about ten laboratory jobs under the frames of the theater experiment.
In 2010-2012, he was Theater Director at the Prokopievsky Leninsky Komsomol Drama Theater. At this theater he had produced V. Durnenkov’s performance Showpieces; the performance was invited to three festivals: the “New Siberian Transit” Theater Festival/Contest; the Small Russian Cities Theater Festival (Lysva); and the First “Textura” Festival of Theater and Film productions about modern times (Perm). At the “Textura” Festival, the Showpieces performance was awarded with the Grand Prix; the Showpieces performance had also receive the “Critics’ Award” of the Golden Mask Festival by the outcomes of the theater season of 2009/2010.
In 2010, Marat Gatsalov had simultaneously produced performances at two Moscow theaters: Arrival of the Body by Presnyakov Brothers (the CDR Theater) and Chyo by I. Vilkova (Theater.doc). He became member of the Artistic Council of the Moscow “Center of Drama and Production” Theater.
In 2011, the first night of the performance I Do Not Believe It took place at the Moscow Stanislavsky Drama Theater; the performance was based on M. Durnenkov’s play written after K. Stanislavsky’s book “My Life in the Arts.” In 2011, he produced a performance after T. Letts’s August: Osage County at the Novosibirsk Globus Academy Youth Theater; the performance was awarded with the “Golden Mask” in 2013. Marat Gatsalov also was the curator of the Laboratory of New Production at the Globus Theater.
In 2011-2012, Marat Gatsalov became the head of the modern drama program “The Living Spaces” of the "TERRITORIЯ" International Festival/School and was awarded with a grant of RF President for supporting national-scale creative projects (2012).
On September 26, 27 and 28, 2014, Marat Gatsalov's play "Telluria" was presented at the Eighth Alexandrinsky International Theater Festival. On October 18 and 19, 2014, the performance of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater "The Tale of what we can and what we can't" staged by Marat Gatsalov was shown.
