Virtual exhibition «On the other side of the curtain»

The grand opening of the Belarusian State Theater (BGT) took place on September 14, 1920, in the premises of the Minsk City Theater. The opening program of the first theater season included a dramatization of E.Ozheshko’s story «Lynx» performed by the Belarusian troupe, Sholem Aleichem’s play «People», and A.P.Chekhov’s play «The Wedding». Since 1926, the BGT has been called the Belarusian First State Theater.

With the arrival of director, playwright and artistic director Yevstigney Mirovich in 1921, the rapid professional growth of the team began. A whole galaxy of actors, the future pride of the national acting school, works in the theater: G.Glebov, B.Platonov, L.Rzhetskaya, V.Krylovich, V.Vladimirsky, S.Birillo, V.Dedyushko. L.Rakhlenko, M.Zorev, K.Sannikov, L.Litvinov come to directing.

The poetry and dramaturgy of Yanka Kupala has been a source of creativity and inspiration since the first days of the theater’s existence. In the tragic year of 1942, when the poet died, it was decided to focus all attention on a thorough study of his work.

In 1944, the theater was named after the great Belarusian poet and playwright Yanka Kupala. Another decade later – the title of «Academic» (1955).

The modern period of the Kupala Theater begins in the 1960s. and is closely associated with the name of the director and artistic director of the theater Valery Raevsky.

Kupala Theater is a living creative organism that maintains its position in the cultural life of the country and at the same time actively seeks a creative form of existence in a complex, changing world.

The National Archives of the Republic of Belarus has prepared a virtual exhibition of archival documents dedicated to the 105th anniversary of the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theater.