Action one: Sergey Bezrukov appreciated the Moscow Art Theater troupe in action
The VIII Stanislavsky Factory Festival, a major educational project for young theater workers, has ended at the Moscow Provincial Theater. This year, 90 people from 30 regions of the country took part in it, including young artists of the Gorky Moscow Art Theater and its new leadership — People's Artist of Russia Sergey Bezrukov, who became artistic director of the theater in March 2026, and director Larisa Villaste. They shared their impressions with Izvestia.
Tested at the Factory
A key feature of the festival this year was the special format of getting to know the Moscow Art Theater troupe: the artists went through intensive practice at the Factory and showed their level in working on sketches of performances. As explained by Larisa Villaste, who only recently replaced Elena Bulukova as director, this approach allowed us to see the artists not in their usual repertoire roles, but in conditions of maximum professional workload.
"We watch the performances of the Moscow Art Theater, but we are not familiar enough with the troupe," Villaste told Izvestia. — Young artists were invited by Sergey Vitalievich to join this program, to "pump up". At the Factory, they had a unique opportunity to raise their professionalism and get involved in their work — and we looked at them in action.
Larisa Villaste was born on September 22, 1967 in Irkutsk. In 2016, she graduated from the Higher School of Performing Arts of G.G.Dadamyan with a degree in Performing Arts Manager, and completed advanced training at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Since 2014, he has been the director of the Moscow Provincial Drama Theater. Since 2018, he has been the director of the Stanislavsky Factory Festival and a Large Children's Festival. Since June 2026, he has been director of the Gorky Moscow Art Theater.
Sergey Bezrukov himself emphasizes that it is essential for him to personally assess the potential of the Moscow Art Theater artists in the format of intensive work.
— It is very important to me: if I see that this is our Moscow Art Theater, I will not give up such artists, — he noted. — In the "Factory" you can see how a person works when he is immersed in the process from morning to evening, when he needs to quickly grasp, react, and look for solutions. It is in such conditions that the real professional level manifests itself.
Bezrukov stressed that the level of professional skills can be improved throughout life.
— I see a certain lack of education among young artists. Are you watching: The guys have finished their fourth year, and they still don't know how, they don't know how — they play, they imagine, but it's rare to see someone truly "catchy". To get hooked, you need an elementary psychological truth — and, alas, few people know it. That is why at the Stanislavsky Factory we try to put even more knowledge and experience into the guys — what our craftsmen give.
The artistic director separately focused on the discrepancy between the wording in the diploma and the actual competencies of the graduates.
— The diploma says: "Actor of drama theater and cinema". I have the same degree, and I really work in both theater and cinema. But the paradox is that sometimes artists, having such a record in a document, simply do not know how to work in a movie. Therefore, we decided to introduce a separate discipline at the "Factory": in 10 days to give the very practical experience that young actors almost never get anywhere else, except at specialized courses at VGIK.
According to Bezrukov, such intensive training makes it possible to fill in key training gaps in a short time and bring graduates' skills closer to the real requirements of the stage and film set.
From sketch to premiere
Within the framework of the festival, more than 30 teachers, theorists and practitioners of the theater conducted master classes in acting, stage speech, plastic arts, as well as lectures on the history of theater and the psychology of creativity. Classes were held at the Moscow Provincial Theater and the "Boyar Chambers" of the STD of the Russian Federation.
The perspective sketches created on the site can become the basis for new productions. So, Sergey Bezrukov announced the transfer of the work of director Maxim Melomedov to the repertoire of the Moscow Art Theater.
—Maxim Melomedov's sketch "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" based on Leskov, shown last year, first became a play for my students, and now the director will stage it at the Moscow Art Theater," the artistic director told Izvestia.
This year, other artists presented their sketches at the festival: Alexander Koruchakov — the play "A Naughty Night's Dream" based on Shakespeare, Irina Avtushenko — "About you, my Africa ..." based on the cycle of poetry by Nikolai Gumilev, Konstantin Mishin — the plastic project "Shakespeare's Sonnets".
According to Larisa Villaste, such works actually become ready-made offerings for the repertoire: creative leaders get the opportunity to immediately see both the material and the team that embodies it.
Speaking about the situation in the market of young artists, Bezrukov noted the objective glut of the capital's troupes: theaters are in no hurry to expand their line-ups. At the same time, the artistic director himself conducted a large‑scale recruitment this year: the troupe included graduates of his course at VGIK, three students from the Donbass course of the VGIK branch in Rostov-on‑Don, as well as three actors from Igor Zolotovitsky's course at the Moscow Art Theater Studio School. However, as Bezrukov emphasized, the opportunities to hire all talented graduates are objectively limited.
At the closing ceremony of the festival, participants were awarded commemorative diplomas, three craftsmen were awarded "I Believe" figurines from the Dulevsky Biscuit porcelain Factory, and artists and creative leaders were awarded certificates of advanced training from the Shchukin Theater Institute.
According to Sergey Bezrukov, the educational vector of the Stanislavsky Factory will remain: the main task of the project is to fill in the gaps in the training of young actors and give them the practical experience that is difficult to obtain within the framework of standard university education.
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