Voronezh hosted a Storytelling Lab as part of a joint project by the Territoriya Festival and SIBUR

20 may 2021

On May 11-17, 2021, Voronezh hosted a creative laboratory session titled "Storytelling: Theory and Practice" curated by Ingeborga Dapkunaite, a theater and cinema actress, and Savva Savelyev, a filmmaker and artist. The Storytelling Laboratory opened the sixth season of the Art-Lab project, a joint project of Territoriya International Festival and School of Contemporary Art and SIBUR implemented within the framework of the Formula for Good Deeds social investment program.

On May 11 through 16, Voronezh’s Chamber Theater and the “Kot” theater featured an extensive and diverse educational program. Participants of the laboratory session including young professionals in the field of culture and members of Voronezh’s general population whose occupations may not necessarily be directly related to creative professions were given the opportunity to meet with and talk to leading figures of the theatrical art. The session also featured talks by theater critics, actors and directors. The list of speakers included Ingeborga Dapkunaite (theater and film actress), Savva Savelyev (director and artist), Roman Dolzhansky (theater critic), Evgeny Kazachkov (playwright and screenwriter), Kristina Matviyenko (theater critic), Alexei Rozin (director, teacher), and Ilya Barabanov (actor and director). The speakers not only shared their theoretical advice and knowledge, but also offered their personal experiences by talking about their past cases from their own work at the theater (or in the field of theater research).

At least 300 people took part in the educational program’s activities, of whom about 40 attended all the events. Participants noted both the relevance of the choice of topics for the meetings with the speakers and the invited speakers’ high degree of professionalism.

Sergey:

I am very excited that you chose Voronezh as the venue for this program. I had hardly known any of the speakers, so it was a major discovery for me. Another benefit is that almost everyone spoke straight away about their personal experience or shared specific well-known examples when talking about something making everything very tangible.

Anastasia:

I work at a drama studio myself, and so for me these events were something like a miniature class in professional development. I ended up learning things that I had absolutely had no idea about. Thank you so much to everyone who came here and spent this time with us!

Creative talks were only one part of the Storytelling Laboratory’s program. On May 16 and 17, Voronezh’s Chamber Theater hosted open rehearsals of Ingeborga Dapkunaite and Savva Saveliev's production of "Sveiki sulaukę" (translated from Lithuanian as "Hello to those who have made it"). The open rehearsals acted as a visual and practical demonstration of how to apply storytelling and verbatim practices in a theatrical setting: Ingeborga Dapkunaite's personal story of her childhood and youth, as well as the history of Vilnius and the history of 20th century Lithuania were developing and unfolding on the stage, right in front of the audience.

Following the rehearsal on May 17, the spectators had an opportunity to discuss their impressions with Ingeborga Dapkunaite and Savva Saveliev. After the discussion, members of the audience shared their impressions with us:

Ludmila:

Ingeborga is , of course, absolutely incredible – I don't understand how she manages to hold the audience under her spell the whole time. Dramaturgically, everything was calculated to a tee – the language of the play doesn't let you go for a single second.

Mikhail:

It's all about the show’s sincerity. It both draws you and doesn't let you go the whole time.

Maria:

I cried. I could picture vividly everything she was telling me. It's amazing being able to follow one’s unimagined personal stories. That was very moving, I still have goosebumps crawling over me.

The laboratory’s curators admitted that they were especially pleased with Voronezh’s hospitality and with the warm reception they got from the local audience. In addition, they noted how involved members of the audience had been at the rehearsals and at the creative talks. They also noted the project’s significance for the development of the region’s cultural sector.

One important trend that the Art Labs promote is the decentralization of the art scene. Art should not be concentrated just in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Instead, events of such a caliber as this one should be held out in the remote regions as well. The results of the Art Labs are obvious. They lead to more local initiatives because people feel that what they are doing is interesting and needed. And here they have a unique opportunity to communicate with professionals and to continue to evolve. In Voronezh we have met a huge number of talented people, and we are sure that this is only a small part of the creative resource that we have yet to discover, Savva Savelyev, director, artist and curator of the Storytelling Laboratory, noted.

The lab session titled Storytelling: Theory and Practice opened the sixth season of the Art Labs project. Art Labs have been held in Russia’s regions since 2016 under the auspices of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program.

Since 2016, SIBUR has been supporting various social projects as part of its Formula for Good Deeds social investment program. We believe that they will be understood and warmly welcomed by Voronezh’s residents. The Art Labs are the result of an alliance between the International Territoriya Festival, Voronezh’s Chamber Theater, and SIBUR, said Dmitry Bogdanov, Director of Economics and Efficiency Management at SIBUR's Voronezh facility (Voronezhsintezkauchuk). This is the kind of synergy that is created when artistic organizations and businesses join efforts. We see a lot of interest toward cultural projects on the part of local residents, and their hunger for cultural and educational events, and this is very pleasing. Cultural projects are as important to us as environmental or athletic ones are. In a nutshell, follow our announcements.