On December 26, 1976 a new theater was born - Oryol Theater for Young Spectators. It was founded by Yuriy Semenovich Kopylov who came to Orel from Krasnoyarsk with a designer Stanislav Shavlovsky and a group of actors.They were joined by a group of graduates from Leningrad institute of theater, cinema and cinematography and a young director Boris Tseitlin.
Grigory Semenovich Kolykhanov was the first theater manager and Yuriy Semenovich Kopylov was its first Chief director.
Yuriy Semenovich Kopylov
The new theater started with a fairy tale “Touch-me-not” written by L. Ustinov (directed by Kirill Filinov).
The first performances “Cruelty” by P.Nilin, “Kolonists” by Makarenko, “The twelfth night” by W. Shakespeare, “Fierce Gascon” by A. Dumas directed by Y. Kopylov, “The third rocket”by V. Bykov, “The Glass Menagerie” by T. Williams and others stirred great interest of spectators of all ages. Directors’ innovative approaches and Shavlovsky’s unusual stage designs, vivid personalities of the actors D. Evstafyev, V. Kushnarev, E. Gamburg, E. Ouspenskaya, Zh. Khruleva, A. Erin, A. Polyak, V. Zaporozhsky, A. Dubovitsky, E. Kraynaya, N. Trofimova – everything pointed to the fact that a new highly professional theater came into being in the city of Orel.
December 26, 1976 in the city of Orel was born a new theater - the Theater of the Young Spectator (Youth Theater). Its founder was directed by Yuri Semyonovich Kopylov, who, together with the artist Stanislav SHAVLOVSKY and a group of like-minded actors, arrived in Orel from Krasnoyarsk. They were joined by a group of graduates of the Leningrad State Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography (LGITMiK) and the young director Boris Tseitlin.
The first director of the theater was Grigoriy Semenovich KOLYKHANOV, and the main director was Yury Semenovich KOPYLOV.
The new theater was opened by L. Ustinov’s fairy tale “Touchy Road” (directed by Kirill Filinov).
The first performances “Cruelty” by P.Nilin, “Сolonists” by Makarenko, “The twelfth night” by W. Shakespeare, “Fierce Gascon” by A. Dumas directed by Y. Kopylov, “The third rocket” by V. Bykov, “The Glass Menagerie” by T. Williams, “The Adventures of Buratino in the Land of Fools” (by A. Tolstoy), “Emelya’s Happiness” (R. Sef, V. Novatsky; directed by B. Tseitlin) stirred great interest of spectators of all ages. Directors’ innovative approaches and Shavlovsky’s unusual stage designs, vivid personalities of the actors D. Evstafyev, V. Kushnarev, E. Gamburg, E. Ouspenskaya, Zh. Khruleva, A. Erin, A. Polyak, V. Zaporozhsky, A. Dubovitsky, E. Kraynyaya, N. Trofimova – everything was an evidence to the fact that a new highly professional theater came into being in the city of Orel.