Zhigunov opposes Bogomolov’s appointment to Moscow Art Theater school

Actor Sergei Zhigunov, who was born in Rostov, has spoken out against the appointment of director Konstantin Bogomolov as the acting rector of the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio. He joined an open appeal by the institution«s graduates to Russian Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova, posting about it on his Telegram channel.

The authors of the appeal insist that the school-studio should be headed by someone who studied there themselves.

«The choice of this candidate categorically violates the traditions of succession that have existed in the school-studio throughout its history. The foundation of succession lies primarily in the careful transmission of the school»s ethical principles and the principles of Russian psychological theater, laid down by the founders and detailed in «Ethics» and other works by Stanislavsky. The successor must be someone who was educated by the Moscow Art Theater teachers within the school«s walls and has direct roots connecting them to the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio,» the appeal states.

The graduates insist that, according to tradition, open elections for a successor should be held by the entire Moscow Art Theater community.

Before Konstantin Bogomolov, the rector of the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio from 2013 was Igor Zolotovitsky. The actor died on January 14 from throat cancer. Bogomolov himself disagrees with the position of the graduates who oppose his candidacy. He believes that the entire Russian theater school inherits the traditions of the Moscow Art Theater because it grew out of Stanislavsky«s work.