Perm to host the premiere of a drama production by a GITIS graduate

16 september 2022

September 18 will see the premiere of Kvadrat, a production by Ekaterina Mokhort, a student of Oleg Kudryashov. The production’s sketch was voted as the best at the young directors’ laboratory held at the Perm Teatr Theater in June. The production will be presented on the Stsena-Molot stage. The project is being implemented with the support of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program. The play’s script was written by Artyom Obushchak, and the music is by Kirill Shirokov.

The idea of the show came about after I had read The Manifesto of Suprematism by Kazimir Malevich, something he wrote while he was working on The Black Square. For me this production is a performance/manifesto. I only use four actors and I work on an empty stage. A single chair is all the props we have. The clear stage, the honesty of the actors, the acting. I'm interested in fomenting confrontation with the audience on various pressing issues in the realm of art, ideas, views, director Ekaterina Mokhort commented.

Since 2022, GITIS and SIBUR have been implementing various joint projects focused on the development of the theater community in the areas where the company operates. A creative group consisting of undergraduate students and recent graduates of GITIS and other leading Russian theatrical universities are offered a chance to produce their first theatrical shows that are based on the works of Russian literature, both classical and contemporary pieces that have already been widely recognized.

By fostering cultural development in the regions we expand opportunities for fulfilling the creative potential of local residents and employees of relevant professional fields. The project with GITIS provides young creative talent with the necessary professional experience, while theaters get a team of young and promising professionals and new, ravishing premieres, Elena Snezhko, head of the Formula for Good Deeds program, commented.

While working on the play, the director abandoned the traditional theater amphitheater-like layout, instead placing the audience on the stage and thus creating the illusion of their direct involvement in the drama’s goings-on. The play’s protagonists interact directly with the "audience" during the show: the presenter may ask questions not only to the actors sitting in the audience, but also to the spectators themselves. I was very fortunate with my actors: I worked with experienced mature actors who were holding no preconceived ideas about contemporary playwrighting. They were absolutely open to new experiences. The main challenge for me at the lab was to play with different genres moving from the mundane to the grotesque, from the grotesque to the drama in a fairly short segment of the script. And I think the actors coped well with this challenge, the GITIS graduate noted.