The Kaluga Theater is one of the oldest theaters in Russia. Its grand opening took place on January 19, 1777. The idea to set up a theater in the city belonged to the first Kaluga governor Mikhail Krechetnikov who was an avid theater goer.
Krechetnikov made sure the theater got a worthy building. It was donated to the city by first guild merchant Timofei Shemyakin. The theater was located on Tulskaya Street, now called Saltykov-Shchedrin Street near Zhirovsky creek. A large stage was built and all the required equipment installed. Comfortable armchairs were installed in the auditorium and soft benches on balconies. The theater had cloakrooms and spacious lobbies.
Krechetnikov entrusted the work on the first season and preparation of the building and actors for the opening to the first Russian entrepreneur Nikolai Titov, a famous theater worker, playwright and composer. To strengthen the company selected from local actors, Titov invited four actors from St.-Petersburg: Vasily Lukov, Ivan Ermolin, Nikolai Nikitin and Egor Poryvaev.
The first play staged at the Kaluga Theater was ‘Prologue for the Opening of Kaluga Vicarious Authority’. Poet Vasily Maikov wrote it specially for the event.
‘At six o’clock in the evening over 900 persons were seated in the newly built Kaluga Theater, including up to one hundred and fifty local merchants that got special seats on the upper level …’ This was Mikhail Krechetnikov’s report to Empress Catherine II after the opening night.
The theater was located in Tulskaya Street for a relatively short time. Already in the end of the XVIII century it fell into disrepair and the company moved closer to the city center – to a new building on Sennaya Square. It was a lot more modest: the auditorium had only two levels of wooden seats for spectators. The easily combustible interiors caused the theater several fires, and in 1820 the whole building perished in the fire. The new building constructed for the company a year later in the city garden lasted 15 years and also burnt down.
The exhibited drawing was made for another building of the Kaluga Theater in 1840. That stage saw the first performance of the comedy by Alexander Griboyedov Wit Works Woe prohibited for staging in the province by censors. However, 11 years after kits opening it also burned down with all the property inside.
Over its history, the Kaluga Theater changed nine buildings. During the Great Patriotic War the company became a frontline team that performed in military units. The current building of the Kaluga Regional Drama Theater named after Lunacharsky was opened in 1958.
Krechetnikov made sure the theater got a worthy building. It was donated to the city by first guild merchant Timofei Shemyakin. The theater was located on Tulskaya Street, now called Saltykov-Shchedrin Street near Zhirovsky creek. A large stage was built and all the required equipment installed. Comfortable armchairs were installed in the auditorium and soft benches on balconies. The theater had cloakrooms and spacious lobbies.
Krechetnikov entrusted the work on the first season and preparation of the building and actors for the opening to the first Russian entrepreneur Nikolai Titov, a famous theater worker, playwright and composer. To strengthen the company selected from local actors, Titov invited four actors from St.-Petersburg: Vasily Lukov, Ivan Ermolin, Nikolai Nikitin and Egor Poryvaev.
The first play staged at the Kaluga Theater was ‘Prologue for the Opening of Kaluga Vicarious Authority’. Poet Vasily Maikov wrote it specially for the event.
‘At six o’clock in the evening over 900 persons were seated in the newly built Kaluga Theater, including up to one hundred and fifty local merchants that got special seats on the upper level …’ This was Mikhail Krechetnikov’s report to Empress Catherine II after the opening night.
The theater was located in Tulskaya Street for a relatively short time. Already in the end of the XVIII century it fell into disrepair and the company moved closer to the city center – to a new building on Sennaya Square. It was a lot more modest: the auditorium had only two levels of wooden seats for spectators. The easily combustible interiors caused the theater several fires, and in 1820 the whole building perished in the fire. The new building constructed for the company a year later in the city garden lasted 15 years and also burnt down.
The exhibited drawing was made for another building of the Kaluga Theater in 1840. That stage saw the first performance of the comedy by Alexander Griboyedov Wit Works Woe prohibited for staging in the province by censors. However, 11 years after kits opening it also burned down with all the property inside.
Over its history, the Kaluga Theater changed nine buildings. During the Great Patriotic War the company became a frontline team that performed in military units. The current building of the Kaluga Regional Drama Theater named after Lunacharsky was opened in 1958.
