HAKOB GHAZANCHIAN: STATE THEATERS ARE IN DANGER
Noyan Tapan
Jan 31, 2008
YEREVAN, JANUARY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. The state theaters are in danger
and God forbid if someone makes a decision to close them, that person
will become culture’s enemy. Hakob Ghazanchian, the Chairman of the
Union of Theatrical Figures of Armenia, responded this way to the
rumors on closure of state repertoire theaters at the January 30
press conference.
The Chairman of the Union of Theatrical Figures of Armenia
said that both in Armenia and in all post-Soviet countries many
non-repertoire theaters, where talented actors and producers work,
work inefficiently. And many repertoire theaters, including Russian
Lenkom, Sovremennik, and others prosper. "Thus, those speaking about
it should ground their statements. All these talks are based on one
thing: show business actors often performing on TV announce that they
have no stage," Hakob Ghazanchian emphasized.
As regards the issue that this year also there was no prize in
cinema and theater nominations among the prizes instituted by the
RA President and the President said that there are problems in this
sphere, H. Ghazanchian does not agree to it. In his words, 90% state
theaters had not submitted bids for taking part in the competition. And
besides, the prevailing majority of the common commission formed for
the spheres of cinema and theater are cinema critics, and speaking
about theater is not so understandable in this case.
"To say that theater has problems is unequivocally wrong under the
circumstances, as there are problems in all spheres," he said.
According to H. Ghazanchian, interesting and praiseworthy performances
were staged at state repertoire theaters last year: "there is a
new generation of talented actors and producers in Armenia today,
and many of them have already confirmed it with their acts."
Hakob Ghazanchian also said that a law On Theater fails to be adopted
for many years, there is no precise cultural policy, "in one word,
everything is incomplete in this sphere, and it is absurd to speak
about closure of state theaters under the circumstances."