Today, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobianin and Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky have visited the New Stage of the Vakhtangov Theater.

The important visitors have been welcomed by the theater’s art director Rimas Tuminas, director Kirill Krok and leading actors of the Vakhtangov Theater such as Yulia Borisova, Vasily Lanovoy, Evgeniy Kniazev, Alexei Guskov, Lidya Velezheva and others.

The visitors were immediately shown to the New Stage where Rimas Tuminas and actors – Liudmila Maksakova, Vladimir Simonov, Alexei Kuznetsov, Agnessa Peterson and young Vakhtangov company members were rehearsing a new performance after T. Bernhard’s play “Minetti,” the first showing of which will open the New stage for the audience on October 3.

The important visitors have greeted and congratulated the Vaktangov Theater actors.

“I would like to congratulate you on moving into the new stage! The city, the Ministry of Culture and investors have worked for a long time on this project. The final result seems rather good to me. The building has been fitted into the historical surroundings, and the theater is now equipped with the newest equipment for all of its facilities – the stage, dressing rooms and the rehearsal hall. I hope you will like working here. All the more so, your theater is the most popular one in Moscow despite its having many other remarkable theaters as well,” the Mayor pointed out.

He emphasized that Moscow has become a big theater-construction site in the recent years. “We have commissioned 10 long term theater construction projects which lasted for many years. Dozens of theaters have been reconstructed, new stages introduced, and theater attendance is not going down despite the abundance of cinema, the Internet and other kinds of entertainment. After all, theater remains to be one of the most popular places to visit for both Muscovites and guests of the capital. If we put together all attendance of Moscow theaters under the guidance of the Ministry of Culture, the figure will make around 7-8 mln people attending theaters annually. So I want to congratulate you on having one more stage now. I wish you the best of luck,” the Mayor added.

In his turn, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky has commented on the theater’s high occupancy rates. “Dear friends, the Vakhtangov Theater is one of the favorite places for the Ministry of Culture. You have a wonderful – probably one of Russia’s best – figure for income from theater’s main activities, i.e. from showing performances in Moscow and on tour. And truly, the viewers love your theater,” V. Medinsky said.

Then Kirill Krok has given the visitors an excursion around the new theater building where they have greatly appreciated the modern equipment of the stage and the convenience of utility rooms.

After opening the New Stage, the theater’s total area has grown by more than 60%. The area of the existing building is 10,900 sqm while the newly constructed part added 6,500 sqm more. The new transforming stage and the telescopic audience platform allow directors to use all capacity of the hall to the utmost and bring to life all of their innovative ideas. The hall has bleachers, a mobile platform, instead of traditional stationary seats. When folded in, the audience hall resembles a wall and takes up almost no space. With a click of the single button, 11 rows of seats move into the hall. During this process their location can change depending on the director’s plan, with the total number of seats varying from 200 to 250.

To finish their visit, Sergei Sobianin and Vladimir Medinsky wished Vakhtangov Theater actors to have new famous premieres and promised to visit the New Stage again – this time as spectators.