Vasilii Kushitashvili
Kushitashvili, Vasilii Pavlovich
Born Apr. 25 (May 7), 1894, in Tbilisi; died Jan. 16, 1962, in Sukhumi. Soviet director; People’s Artist of the Georgian SSR (1958).
Kushitashvili studied at the V. F. Komissarzhevskaia Theater Studio in Moscow (1914–16). He staged performances in France and the USA during 1919–33. In 1934 he went to work at the K. A. Mardzhanishvili Georgian Theater in Tbilisi, where he directed such plays as Beaumarchais’s Marriage of Figaro (1937), Schiller’s Maria Stuart (1955), Mrevlishvili’s Avalanche (1956), and Shakespeare’s Richard III (1957).
Kushitashvili headed a number of Georgian theaters. His work helped develop the Soviet Georgian theater. He taught at the Sh. Rustaveli Theatrical Institute and in theater studios in Tbilisi from 1933 to 1958. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and medals.