Solovtsov Theater

one of the best Russian provincial theaters, established in Kiev in 1891 by N. N. Solovtsov, E. Ia. Nedelin, T. A. Chuzhbinov, and N. S. Pesotskii as the Society of Dramatic Artists. In 1893 it became the theatrical enterprise of Solovtsov, who managed the theater until the end of his life and staged its principal plays. Initially the performances were staged in the Bergon’e Theater, but in 1898 they were moved to a new, specially constructed building. The high quality of the theater’s productions was the result of the existence of a permanent company, well-conceived stagings, and the careful guidance of the performers by the director. Among the productions were Gogol’s The Inspector-General (1891), L. N. Tolstoy’s The Power of Darkness (1895), and Chekhov’s The Bear (1891), The Wedding (1891), The Sea Gull (1896), Ivanov (1897), Uncle Vanya (1898), and The Three Sisters (1901).

After Solovtsov’s death, the enterprise passed to his wife, the actress M. M. Glebova, and then to I. E. Duvan-Tortsov and M. F. Bagrov. The theater prospered anew in connection with N. N. Sinel’nikov’s enterprise (from 1913 to 1917). Among the actors who performed at the theater were I. P. Kiselevskii, N. P. Roshchin-Insarov, L. M. Leonidov. K. A. Mardzhanov, S. L. Kuznetsov, A. G. Kramov, N. M. Radin, I. A. Slonov, M. M. Tarkhanov, N. N. Khodotov, and I. R. Pel’tser. The Solovtsov Theater was nationalized in 1919 and renamed the Second Lenin Drama Theater of the Ukrainian SSR.