Международный театральный фестиваль «Мелиховская весна» пройдет в музее-заповеднике А.П. Чехова в 23-й раз

This year, 15 theaters from Russia and other countries will take part in the annual International Theater Festival "Melikhovskaya Vesna" (Melikhovo Spring). The festival starts on May 20 and will last till May 29 in Anton Chekhov's estate "Melikhovo" near Moscow, where the writer lived from 1892 to 1899. The festival is hosted by the Melikhovo Museum-Reserve with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Moscow Region.

The poster of the 2022 festival includes theaters from Moscow and the Moscow Region, Perm city and Perm Krai (federal subject), Irkutsk Region, cities of Kostroma, Lipetsk, Tula, Tambov, Lugansk, as well as theaters from Armenia and Cyprus.

When forming the poster of the festival, our preference was given to productions that can be transformed for display in the open air i.e. - in the natural scenery of the Chekhov estate. In addition to the veranda of the Chekhov family's main house, which is the prime venue of the festival, performances will be presented in the museum theater izba (log house), as well as on the stage of the Serpukhov Music and Drama Theater.

Professional theaters and on-stage groups with performances based on works by Chekhov or about him were traditionally invited to take part in the festival. In addition, every year within the framework of the festival we have a special program named "Visiting Chekhov" dedicated to some another author. In this connection, the 2022 festival will feature performances based on the works by Fyodor Dostoevsky, whose 200th anniversary was worldwide celebrated last year.

The organizers of the festival have also prepared an ambitious program of additional festival events. On May 21, the audience will see the concert program PROZRENIE ("EPIPHANY") performed by singer - tenor Oleg Krikun and pianist Alexey Goribol, on May 22, the Melikhovo Children's Musical Theater with the participation of the newly created Melikhovo Children's Symphony Orchestra with the performance "Mirror" based on the works by Chekhov and Russian humorist writer Nadezhda Teffi, and on May 25, we host a traditional evening in memory of Oleg Yefremov, where students and graduates of theater master 's courses of different years will perform.

The main program of the Melikhovskaya Vesna – 2022 will offer you performances of the following theaters: the Tula Academic Drama Theater, the Kostroma State Drama Theater named after A.N. Ostrovsky, the Tambov Youth Theater, the Lugansk Pavel Luspekaev Academic Russian Drama Theater, the Ust-Ilim Drama and Comedy Theater, our regular festival participant - the Lipetsk Academic Drama Theater named after Leo Tolstoy, Perm city on-stage performance groups: theater "At the Bridge" and "Youth Studio-theater "Dominant" from Gubakha city, Moscow theaters - "School of Dramatic Art" and an independent theater project of graduates of GITIS (workshop of People's Artist of Russia Professor A.V. Galibin), as well as the theater "ARMMONO from Armenia and the Russian Art Theater of Cyprus. The Dmitrov Drama Theater, the Serpukhov Music and Drama Theater and the Chekhov Studio Theater of the Melikhovo Museum-Reserve will represent the Moscow Region at the festival.

As you know, the name of Chekhov is intimately associated with the Moscow Region. Anton Pavlovich lived and wrote more than 40 of his works here in the village of Melikhovo near Moscow. The program of the Melikhovskaya Vesna Festival, which originated in the writer's estate at the end of the XX century, in addition to classical productions, you can find chamber performances, large-scale drama stagings, and avant-garde versions. Every year the festival is attended by several thousand spectators, primarily residents of the Moscow Region and Moscow.

Applications for participation in the festival ended in January. Even during the pandemic period, the interest in the festival did not cease – the museum received more than forty applications from Russian and foreign theaters. In total, the Expert Council of the festival selected more than fifteen productions for the final poster of the festival.