Ingeborga Dapkunaite and Savva Saveliev to Host a Storytelling Lab in Voronezh

7 may 2021

On May 11-17 Voronezh is to host a laboratory session titled “Storytelling: Theory and Practice”. The laboratory will be led by Ingeborga Dapkunaite, a theater and cinema actress, and by Savva Saveliev , a filmmaker and an artist. The lab in Voronezh will start the sixth season of Art Lab, a joint project of the International Festival and School of Contemporary Art Territoriya and SIBUR as part of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds, a social investment program.

The laboratory session is comprised of two stages: an educational program and a series of open rehearsals of the "Sveiki sulaukę" (Lithuanian for "Hi to those who have lasted") stage production.

The educational program will include lectures, seminars, and master classes on storytelling and “verbatim”. Verbatim (from the Latin verbatim, or "word for word") has recently evolved into one of documentary theater’s most popular methods. According to the principles of the verbatim genre, the dramatic structure of a documentary production is based on real-life stories collected through interviews, surveys, and conversations whereas various methods and techniques of storytelling are used to help process the material and to render it suitable for a theatrical production while embedding it in the structure of the play which is necessary for putting on a performance.

At the lab’s master classes and lectures, their participants, most of whom are employees of Voronezh theaters, will be given an opportunity to learn about the storytelling’s structural principles and elements, about different variations of verbatim and about ways of constructing plots, and learn improvisation techniques, as well as how to work with one’s imagination and memories. As part of the laboratory's theoretical program, master classes will be given by a theater and film actress Ingeborga Dapkunaite, director and artist Savva Savelyev, playwright and teacher Evgeny Kazachkov, theater scholar Kristina Matviyenko, director and educator Alexey Rozin, as well as theater critic and Territoriya’s art director Roman Dolzhansky.

On May 16 and 17, the Voronezh Chamber Theater will host open rehearsals of the "Sveiki sulaukę" ("Hello to those who have waited") production. At the rehearsals, the audience will be able to see how the director (Savva Savelyev) and the actress (Ingeborga Dapkunaite) apply in practice the methods of storytelling and verbatim, creating a theatrical narrative that is based on Ingeborga's memories of her family life in Vilnius.

While working on this play, I got to know a completely different Ingeborga Dapkunaite, shared Savva Savelyev, the laboratory’s director and curator. I envy our audience who are yet to experience the same.

The Art Lab’s Educational Program

Venues and details of how to sign up for the educational program’s events will be announced separately.

May 11

• 10:00-12:00: “Why do I go to the theater?”, a lecture by Savva Saveliev, a director and artist

• 14:00-16:00 –"World theater (after) the pandemic", a lecture by Roman Dolzhansky, a theater critic and art director of the "Territoriya" festival

May 12

10:00-12:00 –"Monologue", a master class by Ingeborga Dapkunaite, a theater and cinema actress

May 13

10:00-12:00 –"Performance and its Inroads in Theatrical Practice. How to tame each other and win? Cases from the history of the second half of the 20th century and the modern day", a lecture by Christina Matviyenko, a theater critic and scholar

May 14 and 15

12:00-14:00 – "I AM SAYING THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME", an intensive drama class by Evgeny Kazachkov, a scriptwriter, a playwright, and a teacher

May 16

• 12:00-14:00 – Viewing of the "Crime and Punishment" production (directed by Alexey Rozin)

• 14:00-16:00 – "Storytelling as a Way to a Analyze a Role" by director and trainer Alexey Rozin, 

 The “Storytelling: Theory and Practice" laboratory session will be held within the framework of the sixth season of the "Art Laboratories" project. "Art Labs have been conducted in Russia’s regions since 2016 as part of the Formula for Good Deeds, SIBUR's social investment program.

On behalf of SIBUR, I am delighted to introduce a new season of Art Labs in Voronezh, something that we, together with our partners and the city's residents, have been eagerly looking forward to. The Art Labs project has been held in Voronezh since 2016 as part of SIBUR's social investment program, the Formula for Good Deeds, in cooperation with Territoriya, an International Festival and School of Contemporary Art, and with the Voronezh Chamber Theater. Over these years, it has quite rightfully won recognition and admiration of not just avid theatergoers, but also of members of the general public.

Our joint efforts have resulted in a series of creative educational events and performances run by leading representatives of modern theater including eminent directors, choreographers, actors, and composers.

We have been observing a lot of interest toward our project from the city’s residents, and their longing for culture-themed and educational events, motivating us to continue our work in this area, said Stanislav Martynenko, a business support expert in SIBUR’s presence regions.