An interview with the founder of the theatrical production center "Bright People" Maria Halperina
Maria, how did the idea of passion for theatrical art evolve directly into the creation of the theatrical production company Bright People?
When you are very keen on something all your life, of course, there will be a day when you desire to do it professionally. This is how the idea to engage in creativity and create projects related directly to the theatrical production was born.
6 years ago I wanted to unite creative people, theaters working in the city space and collectives creating street performances. And so, the festival "Bright People" appeared. The project has found support very quickly, as it perfectly merged into the new cultural policy of Moscow, in which at that time a new slogan "Not Entertainment, but Involvement" was formed. Since then, we have been organizing this festival every year. In 2016, the event was attended by about 400,000 people, and in the past more than 500,000 citizens came to join our program.
How are your projects connected with the transformation of the Moscow cultural image, which has been so actively developed in the past 5 years?
The city needs interesting and completely new content, and the main task is to make sure that during the holidays local citizens do not leave, but on the contrary, remain.
In 2012, we started joint cooperation with museums, cultural centers, radio stations, theaters. We invited young people, interesting and intellectual members of society, who began to follow the schedule of cultural events, and subsequently, visit each of them. It turned out that all events can be created in a truly unique and interesting way.
For example, in the New Year's 3-week festival "Journey to Christmas" we organized 1500 hours of theatrical program throughout the city. For Maslenitsa Festival we recreated Russian folk traditions - both musical and historical.
Thus, a new format of the old holiday was reconstructed according to primordial-Russian customs in such a modern and progressive Moscow.
So far as now much attention is paid to city events and city image, Moscow was included on the top 5 cities for holidays according to the New York Times magazine, and the influx of foreigners is increasing every year.
What are your favorite theater groups in Russia and foreign bands that you work in the festival with? Headliners?
To admit, there are not so many creative groups that work in their specific urban festivals. Of course, there are regular partners, and they all represent different genres.
For example, Tall Brothers - a circus troupe with a very high level performances, the team "Sketches in space" - new young artists and designers with impressive experiments, wonderful Petersburg theatrical group "Heavenly Roundabout".
I can not help mentioning the rapidly developing Moscow Theater of the Dame, the UFO air theater, the amazing Taste theater, Freak Fabric, whose members create a lot of unusual and interesting images, from which viewers simply can not tear themselves away.
Nowadays, street art is most developed in France. For the last 3 years we have been working closely with the Remua Menage team, which we are inviting to Moscow. And last year, for example, we discovered an incredible performance "Lotus Flower" of the Italian theatrical group Corona - a performance on the water with moving interactive objects.
Recommend a selection of cultural places in Moscow - performances and multimedia exhibitions, which the audience without knowing the Russian language could visit?
Moscow is an unusually saturated city, especially for art lovers. I am sure that foreigners will be interested in the International A.P. Chekhov theatrical Festival. It takes place in Moscow every summer with a huge number of theatrical performances from England and other English-speaking countries. Also, an obvious solution for foreigners would be the famous Russian opera and ballet. I would recommend the Stanislavsky Theater, which is now saturated with its modern productions and European choreographers, the theater "New Ballet", Helicon Opera.
It is worth to visit the Bolshoi Theater and see "Altsina" directed by the famous Kathy Mitchell. Another place that deserves special attention is the theater of Dmitry Krymov. This is almost an ideal option for expats, because the performances focus of the strong visual images. Through them that the story takes place. It will also be interesting to go to the theater of the Nations - there are visual performances, including the play "Pushkin's Fairy Tales", which you can enjoy without knowing Russian.
What places would you advise to visit to a person from another country who is interested in art and cultural life of the city and just moved to Moscow?
You can start with Russian cultural heritage - the main building of the Tretyakov Gallery, and if a person is interested in the art of the 18th century, then of course, he or she should visit the Kremlin Museum, the Diamond Fund, the Faceted Chamber. These places always leave a strong impression. In addition, I recommend going to the museums of contemporary art – there are 3 of them - and each of them will find its spectator.
Tell us about the progressive modern theaters? What are the new directions of art?
In recent years, the Gogol Center under the direction of K. Serebrennikov is increadibly popular. Annually this multi-cultural center produces interesting performances. For example, the production of "Little Tragedies" based on the plays of the great poet Alexander Pushkin, the performance of "Shakespeare" with the modern dance, the acclaimed performance "Müller's Machine" with naked performers. The Gogol Center is more a living creative organism than a theater.
The above-mentioned theater of the nations, the theater of D. Krymov also belong to modern theaters. Lately, a completely new direction is developing very strongly. It’s called the immersive theater - these are the performances with a full immersion of the viewer into what is happening (The Queen of Spades, Returned, House 19 | 07). In such productions the word "audience" is not used at all, there are only heroes of the story. You become one of them and play your role.
If you had a task to introduce the cultural atmosphere and the Moscow events to a foreigner in one day, what would you mention?
Firstly, you need to determine the preferences of the guest. With the present rich Moscow cultural menu everything depends on the day itself. If this is a holiday – I would take my guest to Manezhnaya Square. If he or she is more attracted by history, then this is one route, if modern art – it’s different. In the first case it is a museum of the Kremlin, the Novodevichy Convent, historically significant places of the city - Kropotkinskaya, Arbat, the Tretyakov Gallery. In the second case - museums of modern art and the Theater of Nations, Gogol Center and Pushkin Museum.
How do expats can diversify cultural leisure in Moscow? Are there opportunities to study Russian culture through performances and cultural events?
Studying Russian culture through urban events in Moscow instantly turns into an exciting journey, as we use most of the folklore heritage. All the costumes for street performances are carefully chosen and created in accordance with Russian traditions, and our theatrical productions have a direct relation to Russian writers and poets, reveals the meaning of the “Russian soul”.
For example, for Maslenitsa Festival we created an immersive performance on the Manezhnaya Square with the opportunity to "travel" to different regions of Russia.
Through such a "time travel" we showed the audience how the celebration of Maslenitsa was held in different regions of the country, covered the history of the holiday. We had tables with traditional Russian food, sang folk songs and even a puppeteer!
What cultural events do you plan to create in the near future?
Easter will begin soon, and we are currently working on the Easter Festival, where music and theatrical content will be presented. We have specially prepared traditional Russian games for foreigners.
In August, the 3rd musical family festival Skolkovo Jazz will be held, where all lovers and connoisseurs of jazz and contemporary music are invited. There will also be interactive areas with scientific topics for the whole family, so no one will get bored. And according to tradition, when the City day comes, we will organize the annual festival "Bright People" and introduce you to European theater groups with new performances. You are invited to join the largest open-air creative workshop for both locals and foreigners.
Author: Maria Shchur