The artistic director of the Moscow Art Theater will be Sergey Zhenovach. The troupe did not like that no one consulted with her when appointing

On March 23, director Sergei Zhenovach was appointed artistic director of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater. The news about this evening was written by Kommersant with reference to anonymous sources, later it was confirmed by the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky and the director himself. The minister discussed the decision to appoint Zhenovach with cultural figures at the same time, on March 23 at a specially convened meeting . It was attended by the artistic director of the Alexandrinsky Theater Valery Fokin, the artistic director of St. Petersburg MDT Lev Dodin, the head of the Vakhtangov Theater Rimas Tuminas, the head of the theater named after Pushkin Evgeny Pisarev, the rector of the theater institute named after Schukin, Yevgeny Knyazev, the rector of the School of Theater School named after Schepkin Boris Lyubimov, the rector of GITIS Grigory Zaslavsky, the chairman of the theater union figures Alexander Kalyagin, rector of the Moscow Art Theater School Igor Zolotovitsky, actor Vladimir Mashkov and Sergey Zhenovach himself. According to the Ministry of Culture, all participants in the meeting unanimously supported the director of the director. MHT actor Vladimir Mashkov said that he approves the appointment of Zhenovach and is ready to help him in his work: “Now the main thing is to understand and hear each other. It seems to me that we have the time of unity, we all should help Sergey in this difficult matter. ”

Zhenovach is a student of Peter Fomenko. In 1988, he graduated from the director's faculty of GITIS, later taught Fomenko students, staged performances in his Moscow “Workshop”, worked in the theater “Man”, was the main director of the theater at Malaya Bronnaya, and staged performances in large and small theaters. One performance - in 2004 - he put in the Moscow Art Theater. The White Guard according to Mikhail Bulgakov with Konstantin Khabensky, Mikhail Porechenkov and Alexander Semchev, kept in the repertoire for more than 10 years.

Since 2005, Sergey Zhenovach has been led by him the theater "Studio of Theater Arts" (STI). The theater on the territory of the Stanislavsky Factory Business Center in Moscow was built at the expense of the billionaire Sergey Gordeev, President of the PIK group of companies. According to Forbes, he invested $ 40 million in the project. In 2016, Gordeev gave the theater to the state, and the Ministry of Culture appropriated the title of the federal theater. Over the 13 years of existence, the performances of the Zhenovach Theater were nominated for 24 Golden Mask awards and received a reward seven times. The theater is participating in international festivals, touring Russia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, the USA and other countries. The basis of the repertoire is the performances, the director of which is the artistic director himself, the rest was set by his students.

Since 2004, Zhenovach has been led by the department of directing in GITIS, regularly releases acting and directorial courses - on the basis of one of them and the theater was created. In 2004, the director was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art, he repeatedly received the Prize of the Union of Theater Figures, the Golden Mask Award, the Stanislavsky Prize, the Crystal Turandot, the Nail of the Season and other theatrical awards.

The new artistic director will take office on April 23, 40 days after the death of Oleg Tabakov, which has led the theater for the past 18 years. Vladimir Medinsky said that the order for the appointment of Zhenovach has already been signed, but over the next month he will be able to “resolve many organizational issues, to get to know the troupe, with the workers.” According to Medinsky, to the rapid decision on the appointment of the new head of the Moscow Art Theater (Oleg Tabakov died on March 12), he was prompted by a polemic about the future theater, which unfolded in the media and social networks and "began to acquire some kind of painful character." The minister said that the authoritative critics and directors advised him spoke mainly for the fact that the theater was not headed by an actor, but necessarily a director. This idea was supported by Alexander Kalyagin, theater expert Inna Solovyeva, who has been engaged in the history of the Moscow Art Theater for many years, and the head of the Lenkom Theater Mark Zakharov. Zakharov also called Medinsky the names of the three, in his opinion, the best applicants for the place of the Moscow Art Theater Scudrued: Valery Fokin, Sergey Zhenovach and Yuri Butusov.

The Khudruk of the Alexandrinsky Theater Valery Fokin was offered the place of the head of the Moscow Art Theater, but he refused in favor of Zhenovach. The director himself mentioned this at the same meeting. “It will be difficult for him, but I believe that this is all overcome,” Fokin said. Yuri Butusov, in a conversation with Medusa, said on March 22 that he had not received any proposals (two weeks earlier, he quit from the post of artistic director of the Lensovet Theater in St. Petersburg).

Sergei Zhenovach received an offer to head the theater on March 20. At a meeting with journalists on Friday, the director said that the appointment was a surprise for him: “It was Tuesday, I talked at the minister at one in the afternoon, the next day at six in the evening I had to give an answer, and yesterday ( Medusza approx.“ Medus ” ) I was called and told me to come in a white shirt - and I will meet the director of [Moscow Art Theater], and then there was such a story.”

The director will combine work in the Moscow Art Theater and theater art studio. He himself told reporters about this. Zhenovach said that the “studio” will remain an autonomous, copyright theater and will not become part of the structure of the Moscow Art Theater. Vladimir Medinsky, in turn, told reporters that the strata could be transformed into a branch of the Art Theater. “Under favorable circumstances, the Zhenovach studio can be transformed into the studio at the Moscow Art Theater and is called the Stanislavsky Studio,” the minister said.

In the Moscow Art Theater, Zhenovach will only engage in artistic leadership; The functions of the director will be taken by another person. Whoever will become is still unknown, but Yuri Kravets, the first deputy artistic director, was appointed temporary acting director of the theater. This was told on March 13 by the deputy minister of culture Alexander Zhuravsky. According to him, the Ministry of Culture thought about the division of the creative and administrative leadership in the Moscow Art Theater (Oleg Tabakov was engaged in both), because "combination in one person makes the artistic director extremely vulnerable."

The new purpose was not discussed with the Moscow Art Theater troupe. On the evening of March 23, the theater spokesman Maria Malkina announced that the 24th emergency collection of the troupe will be held, "on which the team is going to declare its position on the candidacy proposed by the Ministry of Culture of the Chekhov Arts Association and declare its consolidated position on the future of the theater." After collecting the troupe, Malkin said Medusa that everyone listened to the information and parted; The press secretary refused to comment on the troupe reaction to a new appointment.

The closed collection of the troupe lasted two hours, there is no consensus on the appointment. The meeting was carried out by the director Yuri Kravets and actor Igor Zolotovitsky. According to Medusa, on March 23, Igor Zolotovitsky was asked in the Ministry of Culture to make it so that there was no unrest in the troupe in connection with the appointment of Zhenovach.

According to two sources of Medusa, which were at the collection of the troupe, the candidacy of Zhenovach did not cause unanimous approval actors. Most of the team did not like the speed at what speed the decision was made - and that they did not consult with the troupe. Some of the employees proposed sending a letter to President Vladimir Putin and protested in it against such a quick appointment (at the funeral, officials promised the widow of Oleg Tabakov, actress Marina Zudina, and not rush with a new artistic director). The letter was written, but did not gain sufficient number of signatures. Among the speakers were those who called the appointment of Sergei Zhenovach as a state decision that must be supported.

As a possible alternative to Sergey Zhenovach at the meeting, the name of Konstantin Khabensky was called. The actor refused to comment on Medusa, saying that he could not say a single word - since he is at rehearsals.

Alexandra Mirror, Alla Shenderova