Mestnikov, Vasilii Vasilevich

Born Jan. 1 (14), 1908, in Yakutsk; died there Oct. 18, 1958. Soviet Yakut director and actor. People’s Artist of the USSR (1958). Member of the CPSU (1943).

Mestnikov graduated from the Yakut Pedagogical Technicum in 1929. From 1931 to 1934 he studied at the State Institute of Theater Arts. In 1925 he began working at the Yakut Theater (now P. A. Oiunskii Yakut Musical Drama Theater), serving as artistic director and principal dramatic director (1935–38, 1942–43). Mestnikov made important contributions to the Yakut national theater. His best works as a director include Sivtsev’s Nyurgun Bootur (1940), Korneichuk’s Makar Dubrava (1951), Ostrovskii’s Talents and Admirers (1952), Mukhtarov’s The Family of Allan (1953), Galan’s Under the Golden Eagle (1954), and Sivtsev’s Kyukyur the Blacksmith (1957).

From 1946 to 1948, Mestnikov was director of the Yakut Musical Theater Studio, where he staged the first Yakut opera, Nyurgun Bootur by Zhirkov and Litinskii (1947). He also worked as a teacher and translator.