Sovremennik Theater

a Soviet theater. Founded in Moscow in 1957, the Sovremennik Theater opened with a production of Rozov’s The Eternally Alive. The company was first headed by O. N. Efremov, who served as administrative director until 1970, and consisted mainly of graduates of the Nemirovich-Danchenko School-Studio. The theater’s repertoire consists mainly of Soviet plays. The theater has staged In Search of Joy (1957) by Rozov; Elder Sister (1962) by Volodin; Without a Cross, based on a work by Tendriakov (1963); A Common Story, after the novel by Goncharov (1966); M. Gorky’s The Lower Depths (1972); Roshchin’s Valentin and Valentina (1972); Aitmatov and Mukhamedzha-nov’s The Ascent of Mount Fuji (1973); Shatrov’s The Weather for Tomorrow (1973); Vampilov’s Provincial Anecdotes (1974); and Simonov’s From the Notes of Lopatin (1974). In 1967 the theater staged a cycle of historical-revolutionary dramas; Zorin’s The Decembrists, Svobodin’s The Members of the People’s Will, and Shatrov’s The Bolsheviks.

As of 1975, the company included Honored Artists of the RSFSR A. A. Vokach, N. M. Doroshina, I. V. Kvasha, T. E. Lavrova, A. B. Pokrovskaia, O. P. Tabakov, L. M. Tolmacheva, and P. I. Shcherbakov, as well as A. A. Vertinskaia, V. I. Gaft, A. V. Miagkov, V. Iu. Nikulin, and G. A. Frolov. Honored Artist of the RSFSR G. B. Volchek has been principal stage director since 1972.