In the heart of the city of Penza is the Penza Regional Drama Theater named after A.V. Lunacharsky - an amazing architectural building with an area of about 17 thousand square meters, designed and built by the latest standards of world requirements. The main and small halls (for 1100 and 100 seats), an orchestra pit, the most relevant sound and lighting equipment, actors' apartments, the newest and spacious warehouse for decoration and a cozy hotel for non-resident artists - all this is about him.
Theater History
The Penza Drama Theater, whose history is filled with many events, draws a lot of attention to itself. It cannot be described in one article. As one of the oldest cultural places in Russia, the Penza Drama Theater has a long, ambiguous and rather interesting history. So let's look at the largest and most significant facts of the development of the theater.
Penza Drama Theater showed the first performance on the stage in front of the hall, designed for one hundred seats, back in November 1793. It was a controversial comedy play written by Catherine II herself, The Deceiver. The initiator of the creation was the vice-governor of Penza, Ivan Mikhailovich Dolgorukov, who at the end of the performance arranged an evening for all guests. The main actors at that time were representatives of the upper classes: nobles and officials. In 1796, career actors also joined the stage group.
After 103 years, the creation of A.N. Ostrovsky's "Poverty is not a vice" opens the debut of the founding theatrical season of the Penza Folk Theater. By the beginning of the 20th century, two scenes had arisen: the summer one (the so-called theater located on the site of the Upper Festivities Square) and the winter one (located in the theater building). In early productions, members of the previously assembled society played a drama club named after V. G. Belinsky. Later, by 1905, almost the entire theater staff consisted of highly professional artists.
Building construction
In 1911, the City Council of Penza announces a competition for the development and construction of a national theater house. The provincial architect A.E. Yakovlev wins the championship, but construction stops due to the Imperialist War, which began in 1914. A.G. Kuznetsov, a local merchant, came to the aid of the Duma and lent a considerable amount. Even later, after the celebration of the anniversary of V. G. Belinsky, the summer theater burns down. The People’s House named after Emperor Alexander II opens, and the auditorium takes on a drama club named after V. G. Belinsky.
Bad times for performances
Next comes the muddy time. Penza Drama Theater captures the February Revolution, the war with Poland, the formation of the USSR, World War II. Nonetheless, the theater management and artists tried their best to help preserve the ethical and moral spirit of the people by a number of productions on military-patriotic themes. In the post-war period, viewers had to adapt to young and talented, but new actors, directors with great creative potential, as well as to unfamiliar works of classical drama. For example, "Uncle Vanya" A.P. Chekhov, Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet” and many others.
Building restoration
The first restoration of the building was carried out in 1963 to mark the 300th anniversary of the city of Penza. The theater experienced a new creative take-off in the 90s of the twentieth century. At the head of the ship was the honored artist of the Russian Federation Ogarev Viktor Vladimirovich. But not without catastrophic accident. In January 2008, a fire virtually destroyed the Penza Drama Theater, after which the building had to be demolished. Later, a tender was announced for the modern image of the theater, as a result of which the creative workshop under the direction of A.A. Breusova. The building in the neoclassical style opened in March 2010 with the production of the comedy N.V. Gogol's "The Examiner". A couple of weeks later, a small stage was opened, which began its new journey with the play “Do not leave me” by A. Dudarev.
Currently, the troupe is working in the theater, which includes one national and seven honored artists of the Russian Federation. These people are famous for the Penza Drama Theater. The repertoire of the theater is quite different. It has over 35 performances of various genres, ranging from the musical tale "Fly-Tsokotuha" and up to experimental comedies and theater talk shows.
Since mid-2010, Sergey Vladimirovich Kazakov, Honored Artist of Russia, has been the artistic director.