Laboratory for Young Directors from CIS Countries and Georgia kicks off at Chekhov Festival
From 23 June to 3 July 2025, the Laboratory for Young Directors from CIS Countries and Georgia will take place as part of the Educational Programme of the 17th International Chekhov Theatre Festival. It is organised by the International Confederation of Theatre Unions with the support of the Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation of the CIS Member States (IFHC).
The first Laboratory was held in 2008. This year's edition is the eleventh. It will bring together 18 participants from nine countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The theme of this year's Laboratory is: "The Poetics of the Absurd. Nikolai Gogol". The Artistic Director of the Laboratory is Evgeny Pisarev (Artistic Director of the Pushkin Moscow Drama Theatre). The sessions are led by director-pedagogue Denis Azarov, set designer, Alexey Tregubov, and choreographer Natalia Shurganova. The Laboratory takes place at the branch of the Pushkin Moscow Drama Theatre. The final result – a multicultural project – will be presented on 3 July.
Director-pedagogue Denis Azarov: "Gogol is, for me, the starting point of absurdism in Russian culture. His short story 'The Nose' – one of the most enigmatic works – begins with nothing and ends with nothing. It was a source of inspiration for the Oberiuts and for Moscow conceptualism. The sense of conceptual emptiness that pervades the story has always been highly compelling for the theatre. The aim of the Laboratory is to explore the poetics of the absurd, as well as to work with prose and micro-narratives that need to be translated into the language of the theatre."
Participants of the Laboratory also have the opportunity to attend performances of the World Series and the Moscow Programme of the Chekhov Festival.