Chelyabinsk Theater "Dummy" is one of the most beloved and most visited in the city. All performances are held there with unchanged full houses, whether it is a premiere or an old show.
Theater History
The theater takes its beginnings back in 1963, when students of the Polytechnic Institute took part in amateur performances among universities in the region. Until 1966, a group of student artists was called the Student Theater of Variety Miniatures, which later became known as the "Mannequin."
In 1967, almost the whole of Chelyabinsk saw the premiere of the play "Lyubava". The Mannequin Theater received the Eaglet prize from the Komsomol regional committee. With the same performance, the actors performed at the Seventh International Festival of Student Theaters in Zagreb (Yugoslavia).
In the history of "Mannequin" there are many participations in various competitions and festivals, in most cases artists and directors became laureates (Gorky Student Theater Festival, festivals in Wroclaw and Tashkent and others).
The Mannequin Theater (Chelyabinsk), photos of which were often flashed in local newspapers, widely celebrated its decade in 1973, having visited the St. Petersburg Tales performance in Tarta, Moscow and Tallinn.
In 1980, the event took place, which was waiting for the whole of Chelyabinsk. The Mannequin Theater acquired its own stage, which was located in the basement of the student dormitory.
The surprising fact is that most of the leading actors of the theater did not have a special education. Only in the 1990s they began to enter the Chelyabinsk Academy of Arts and Culture, after realizing the correctness of their creative path.
In 1998, the play "Run, Venechka, Run!" Was released, which is still loved by the viewer and the city of Chelyabinsk is proud of. Theater "Mannequin" acquired the title of municipal theater.
The Millennium was a special milestone for the theater in history, as it moved to a new building with large and small stages. Now it was possible to watch unique performances in the very center of the city, in the building of the cinema named after A.S. Pushkin. The Arts Center was opened there, which fell in love with all of Chelyabinsk. The Mannequin Theater, whose address is only lazy, every season pleases its audience with new performances and unexpected decisions.
Tour of the Mannequin Theater
In addition to participating in various art festivals, "Mannequin" managed to tour. At first it was the cities of the Chelyabinsk region, but after several years the theater became known throughout Russia.
In 1969, four performances were shown in Novosibirsk. In 1975, Moscow saw the performances of "Theater Comedies" and "After the Tale." From 1983 to 1987, the "Dummy" was part of the concert teams that toured the Arkhangelsk and Perm regions, in the Komi Republic, on Sakhalin.
In 1990, the first trip abroad to the international festival in Des Moines took place. The performance "Black Man" won several prestigious awards, and the theater gave performances in several other cities in the United States and Canada.
From 1991 to 1993, there were active tours of the country with the performances of "Black Man" and "Peppy."
In 1996, Europe was conquered. The play "Don Giovanni" was seen in Vienna, Bratislava, Prague. Europeans could not even imagine that so many talents live in the Russian outback, and there is an unusual city - Chelyabinsk. The Mannequin Theater, having embarked on a European tour, glorified not only its city, but the whole country.
In 1998, America was again, this time Chicago and Sue City (Iowa).
Also, the Chelyabinsk theater "Mannequin" visited Spain, Germany, Italy with a tour.
Theater closing
In 2009, the Chelyabinsk Region Culture Department made a dubious decision to reduce funding for the existing Arts Center. In essence, this meant massive layoffs and, as a result, the closure of the center.
This decision did not leave anyone indifferent. The local and Moscow press discussed this high-profile case for several weeks. The main theatrical figures of Russia (Galina Volchek, Mark Zakharov, Petr Fomenko) wrote a letter to President D. A. Medvedev in defense of the Mannequin’s right to exist.
Despite halving funding and depriving support from the Department of Culture, Mannequin continued its work by launching a new project, Art Insomnia.
Studio Theater "Dummy" (Chelyabinsk)
On a cold February day in 1996, the Mannequin Studio Theater opened in the same basement of the student hostel.
Until 2000, the studio theater acted only at festivals and student competitions, but then began to produce performances for the "big audience". In 2001, the performance "Clinic" was staged, consisting of mini-studies. He is the most popular in the studio's repertoire.
Studio-theater "Mannequin" gives many new impressions to its viewers, using the elements of non-verbal theater, a lot of plastic and rhythm, direct work with the audience and much more. The studio was one of the first in the city to demonstrate performances for kids (the play "Very Hungry Caterpillar").
The studio-theater has repeatedly become the laureate of many international festivals and has toured in Europe.
Theater repertoire
"Mannequin" is a theater (Chelyabinsk), whose repertoire is extremely diverse. There you can see comedy ("Twelfth Night", "Doctor of Philosophy"), and melodrama ("Valentine's Day"), and tragedy ("Romeo and Juliet"). But the collective is famous for its unusual productions, for example, the dramatic mystery “Long Happy Christmas” or the Siberian-Italian farce “Truffaldino's Crazy Day”.
In the new season, the premieres of the performances "Door to the adjoining room", "Savage", "Marlene" are expected. Everyone who wants to see unusual theater performances is waiting for at: st. Sonya Krivoy, d. 79a.
Repertoire of the Studio-Theater "Mannequin"
- "Equus" (mystical story).
- "The Old Woman" (thriller).
- "Letters of love" (melodrama).
- "Dangerous summer" (irresponsible fantasy).
- "LBV" (dedicated to mothers).
- "Clinic" (interactive show).
- "Eaters" (based on the works of Van Gogh).
- "Mom and Dad and I" (the story of one family).
- "Arcadia" (intellectual detective about love).
- "Cafe" (plastic performance).
- "Dark Alleys" (mosaic performance about love).