State Academic Russian Drama Theater named after. M. Gorky

History of the State Academic Russian Drama Theater named after. M. Gorky city of Astana city dates back to the end of the 19th century. In 1899, according to the materials of the newspaper “Akmola Regional Gazette” dated June 20, 1899 that have reached us, the following is known: Akmola City Duma decided to “instruct the Administration to purchase a building” for a public theater, which was adopted at the request of lovers of dramatic art. This message became the starting point for the history of the future professional drama theater in Akmolinsk. The year 1899 was the year of the creation of a permanent troupe, housed in a one-story building (now an architectural monument of the 19th century), with its own repertoire, which enjoyed great success among the townspeople. First, Fedorov’s one-act vaudeville “Flash at the Hearth” was staged, followed by the three-act vaudeville “A Scandal in a Noble Family.”

In 1912, the Akmola Regional Gazette published information about the great success of the play “Ivan Susanin,” performed on New Year’s Eve 1913.
Since 1913, the Tatar troupe began working; performances were performed in two languages: Arabic and Tatar.

At the end of 1922, Saken Seifullin staged his play “Bakyt Zholynda” with the help of Kazakh youth, then more performances based on his plays appeared.

In 1939, the theater was given the building in which it is located to this day.

In the 40s, the Akmola Theater became one of the leading creative groups of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From 1942 to 1943, the evacuated Voroshilovgrad Theater operated in Akmolinsk, after whose departure some of the actors remained in the city. The theater troupe included artists - former prisoners of ALZHIR.

In 1943, the Kazakh department at the regional Russian drama theater began its work. The troupe included young actors from amateur groups. The first productions of this period were “Zharys” (“Competition”) based on the play by G. Mustafin, followed by “Kozy-Korpesh and Bayan Sulu”, “Aldar Kose”and others.

In the post-war years, by order of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the theater was transformed into the mobile Atbasar interdistrict collective and state farm theater, to which all the actors of the regional theater moved.

Since 1959, the theater has been named after Maxim Gorky.

In the 60s, the theater experienced its creative takeoff. The play "Saken Seifullin" based on the play by S. Mukanov, staged for the first time in Russian, was awarded a 1st degree Diploma at the Republican Review.

In 1991, the year of the declaration of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the theater was rebuilt and began to look for new areas of activity, interest in the historical past of the Kazakh people and national culture was revived. The genre of historical drama comes to the fore: "Genghis Khan" by I. Orazbayev (1992), "I saw the light early in search of truth..." based on the novel "The Path of Abai" by M. Auezov, directed by the legendary Azerbaijan Mambetov (1995), " Khan Kene" by M. Auezov (1997), "Boris Godunov" by A. Pushkin and "Demons" by F. Dostoevsky.

In 2012, the theater was awarded the status of "Academic".

Most productions are carried out by invited directors, set designers, and composers, which contributes to the artistic enrichment of the theater. Over the years, directors Jonas Vaitkus, Agnius Jankevicius (Lithuania), Yegishe Gevorkyan (Austria), Nurlan Asanbekov (Kyrgyzstan), Barzu Abdurazzakov (Tajikistan), Leonid Chigin, Vladimir Tykke, Alexander Kanevsky, Sergey Potapov, Yuri Kvyatkovsky, Tufan Imamutdinov collaborated with the theater , Racha Makhataev, Evgeny Gelfond, Ivan Petrov, Sergey Fedotov, Mikhail Filimonov (Russia), Timofey Tkachev (Belarus).