Nataliia Ilinichina Sats

Born Aug. 14 (27), 1903, in Irkutsk. Soviet stage director and theatrical figure. People’s Artist of the USSR (1975). Daughter of the composer I. A. Sats.

Sats graduated from the A. N. Scriabin Musical Technicum in 1917 and from the faculty of theater studies of the State Institute of Theatrical Arts in 1953. In 1918 she headed the children’s department of the theatrical and musical section of the Moscow soviet. She initiated the founding of the first permanent children’s theater, the Children’s Theater of the Moscow soviet (1918), and from 1920 to 1936 was director and artistic director of the Moscow Theater for Children (from 1936, the Central Children’s Theater).

Sats helped popularize children’s music; in 1964 she became head of the Moscow Children’s Musical Theater (opened 1965). She made an important contribution to the children’s theater and to the artistic education of children. She also wrote plays, librettos for children’s operas and ballets, and books and articles on musical education. She has received the State Prize of the USSR (1972), three orders, and several medals.