Penza Regional Drama Theater named after A.V. Lunacharsky is an adornment of the city. Its history dates back to the last century, when it was named after the People's Commissar of Education of those years. It happened in 1920.
Only forward
From 1920 to 1930, the director of the theater was Alexander Ignatievich Kanin. The leading actor was Anatoly Khodursky, who later became a national artist. The plays were staged based on the works of Pogodin, Kirshon, Afinogenov, and Korneychuk. In 1939, the Penza Drama Theater met a new director, Vladimir Prokhorovich Volmar. The performances of that time corresponded to their era. As during the years of World War II, the Penza Drama Theater supported the morale of the audience with patriotic performances. At the same time, the actors performed in various areas, went to active units of the Red Army. The theater building itself during the war was both a dining room and a dormitory, and was used for other purposes.
Continued development
After the war, the theater’s repertoire was replenished with classical works. The plays of Rozov, A.N. Tolstoy, Chekhov, Shakespeare, Lavrenev, Afinogenov, Arbuzov were played on its stage. In the 1950s, two performances were staged that won the audience’s success. These are “Drummer” (author Salynsky) and “Predator” (author Balzac). Penza Drama Theater began to travel to Moscow in 1950. For the first time, Belinsky’s performance “Dmitry Kalinin” was brought to the general public for trial. Several plays in the theater were performed with the participation of famous actors. Vera Vasilieva, Andrey Popov, Mikhail Zharov took part in them . The theater received the new building in 1963, after the People’s House was reconstructed. On the new stage, a new performance, “A Strange Man,” was staged, with which the troupe later performed on the Kremlin stage. In the 70s and 80s, the main director of the theater was Semyon Moiseevich Reinhold. Under his leadership, 7 performances were prepared, which were shown at the Pushkin Theater in Moscow. But in the early 80s, Reinhold left the theater. Subsequently, the Penza Drama Theater developed without it.
New birth
His productions begin to participate in All-Russian festivals. In 1984, the play "Zabrodiny" was shown at the festival in Magnitogorsk, and in 1985, the play "Bright May" took part in the All-Russian festival. At the 200th anniversary of the theater in 1993, folk artists attended, among which were Oleg Efremov, Natalya Gundareva, Mikhail Ulyanov. In honor of this holiday, a festival was held in Penza, at which the Penza Regional Drama Theater named after A. V. Lunacharsky showed the play “Boris Godunov”. And in 2008, the theater building died in a fire. The Russian government has allocated funds for its restoration. While the construction of the new building was going on, the actors rehearsed on the stage of the concert hall "Youth". And already in 2010, spectators could visit the new Penza Drama Theater, the repertoire of which during the construction period was replenished with new performances. Subsequently, the actors played many interesting and significant roles. Vladimir Putin met with Russian cultural figures in the theater building. In 2011, the Theater Volga Festival was held.
Our days
At present, viewers are happy to visit this temple of culture. People of any age come to the Penza Drama Theater. His poster is represented by several performances. In December, musical performances “The kindest fairy tale” and “New adventures of Brother Rabbit and Brother Fox” will be shown for children. Adults also expect a lot of interesting things. For example, Ostrovsky’s play “The Last Victim”. It talks about how difficult it is for a young widow to make a choice between two fans. One of them is a handsome young man, but he is not rich. The other is elderly, but financially secure. Another interesting performance was staged by the play of the famous playwright Olga Mikhailova, “The Left Hand Path”. He tells how a grandmother asked a well-known Moscow fortuneteller to change the fate of her grandson. But everything is not so simple. In December, the audience will see the premiere of the performance “Sublimation of Love” by Aldo de Benedetti. The stage will feature the story of a love triangle, the participants of which are a deputy, playwright and famous writer.
In the Penza Drama Theater there were and will be staged so many wonderful and interesting performances that the audience will not be bored.