Biography
Sergey Zhenovach was born on May 15, 1957.In 1988 he graduated from the Directors’ department of GITIS (Pyotr Fomenko’s workshop) and started his teaching activity at the Directors’ chair. Since 2001 Sergey Zhenovach has been professor and the artistic director at the workshop of joined directors’ and actors’ studies at the Directors’ chair in the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (GITIS). In 2004 he became Head of the Directors’ chair in the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts.
From 1988 to 1991 he worked as a director in the theatre-studio “Chelovek” where he staged such productions as “Pannochka” by N. Sadur after N. Gogol’s “Viy” (1988) and “Illusion” by P. Corneille (1989).
From 1991 to 1998 he worked as a director in the Malaya Bronnaya Theatre (since 1996 – as the director-in-chief). Among the productions of those years: “King Lear” by W. Shakespeare (1992), and a theatre trilogy “The Idiot” (1995) after F. Dostoyevsky’s novel (awarded with the Golden Mask in the nomination of Best director).
In 1996 he staged at Pyotr Fomenko’s workshop a production of “A Month in the Country” after Turgenev’s play. The production participated in the Avignon theatre festival in 1997.
In 1994, 1996 and 1997 Sergey Zhenovach goes to Norway to stage productions after plays by Chekhov, Ibsen and Shakespeare.
In 1997 Sergey Zhenovach was awarded the Stanislavsky prize for his director’s skill.
In 2000 the director presents “Woe from Wit” by Griboedov in the Maly Theatre. In 2002 he stages a production of Ostrovsky’s “Truth is Good and Happiness is Better” which won the National theatre award the Golden Mask (a special prize of the jury for Best ensemble) and the Union of Theatre Workers’ award “The Highlight of the Season”.
In 2004 the director staged “The White Guard” by Bulgakov in the Moscow Art Theatre. In 2005 he presented “The Imaginary Invalid” after Moliere (won the Golden Mask in the nomination of Best large scale performance).
In November 2004 Sergey Zhenovach together with his students from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts stages “Boys” – a production after 9 chapters from “The brothers Karamazov” by Dostoyevsky. In 2005 the production is included into the out-of-competition programme of the Golden Mask festival and into the programme of the 6-th Chekhov International Festival. Sergey Zhenovach also won the Crystal Turandot theatre award for his director’s work on this production.
In 2005 Sergey Zhenovach together with his graduates from GITIS hosts a festival of graduation productions – “Six plays in waiting for a theatre” – and founds The Theatre Art Studio. He also becomes the winner of the Stanislavsky award “For the studio-spirit revival” in the nomination “For the development of theatre pedagogy”.
In 2006 the production “Boys” is double-nominated for the Golden Mask award – as the best small-scale performance and best director.
At the Theatre Art Studio Zhenovach staged such productions as:
“A Family in Decline” after Leskov (awarded with the Golden Mask in 3 nominations: Best director and Best small-scale production, Best Actress), 2006
“Gamblers” after Gogol, 2007
“The battle of Life” after Dickens (won the Golden Mask in the nomination of Best small-scale production), 2008
“The River Potudan” after Platonov (won the Golden Mask in the nomination of Best small-scale production), 2009
“Three years” after Chekhov, 2009
“Notebooks” after Chekhov, 2010
“Brother Ivan Fyodorovich”, after “The Brothers Karamazov” by Dostoevsky, 2011
“Moscow to the end of line” after Erofeev (won the Golden Mask in the nomination of Best actor), 2012
“A dead man’s memoir” after “A Theatrical Novel” by Bulgakov, 2014
“The Suicide” after Erdman, 2015
In 2018-2021 he was Artistic Director of the Moscow Art Theatre.
Art. Lebedev Studio