Description of the attraction
Youth theater "Juventa" was founded as a studio in 1998, and as a theater was opened in 2002 on the basis of the Center for Creative Development of the Pedagogical University. A. I. Herzen. The opening of the theater is connected with the premiere of the first performance of this theater "Here's Hamlet for You …" based on the works of L. Filatov and M. Pavlova. Viktor Nikolaev became the artistic director of the theater. The first production of the theater aroused genuine interest among the youth audience, the audience emphasized the consonance of the problems that were touched on in the performance with the themes that worried them.
The success of the first performance inspired the director to work on a new synthetic production "The Day of True Freedom", which combines word, deep idea, pantomime, dance and music. The premiere of the new performance took place on May 25, 2004. The stage basis for the performance is a little-known story by Yu. M. Daniel's "Moscow Speaks" and Pushkin's "A Feast in Time of the Plague". The phantasmagoric plot of the production makes it possible to understand the events of the day. This performance is distinguished by original music, bold directorial finds, a combination of words and plastics, modern multimedia accompaniment of the performance, and current social and cultural context.
In 2006, the musical was shown at the International Festival of Student Theaters in Moscow. The performance received positive reviews from art critics and writers, incl. Booker Prize winners, Vladimir Makanin and Denis Gutsko. It was thanks to this performance that Juventa became a member of AITA, the International Theater Association, and was invited to participate in the Golden Mask Theater Award.
The desire to get acquainted and exchange experience with other theater companies led to the emergence and implementation of the idea of holding the New Look-2005 festival among youth theaters. Theater youth troupes from 12 Russian cities came to St. Petersburg. In 2007 the festival received international status. Thanks to this festival, the actors of the "Juventa" theater expanded their circle of acquaintances and began to actively tour. The troupe took part in master classes in Weimar (Germany), in the Russian festival Equinox-2008, in the international festival Baltic Coast-2011, and received a special prize for the best ensemble cast.
Taking part in the tour, the actors worked on the creation of the next performance based on the works of Ray Bradbury "Symphony of Fire". In addition to the usual screenings, the musical "Symphony of Fire" was presented at the All-Russian Pedagogical Olympiad for Postgraduate Students, the International Forum "Youth and Society Towards Each Other", and the St. Petersburg Book Salon.
And on December 2, 2008, the premiere of the play "How I Caught Little Men, Jumping Six Meters, in a Black Coat", which was staged on the basis of the examination papers of the actors of "Juventa", took place. A new performance based on the stories of L. Petrushevskaya "Black Coat", B. Zhitkov "How I Caught Men" and M. Zhvanetsky "Portrait", "Get Younger" is a kind of experiment, in it the work of young directors, an unusual genre and only three actor on stage. The actors were able to combine completely incompatible things: belief in the miracles of a child and unrestrained fantasy; thinking about the life of a mature man; female woman cry for help.
The main activity of the theater is rehearsals and performances, as well as organizing the creative life of the pedagogical university. Theater actors are involved in the Day of Knowledge, the "Freshman" competition, the inter-faculty festival "Echo of Spring", New Year's performances for children of the teaching staff and other university workers, the University Day. The theater troupe takes an active part in charity events organized in the city.
In September 2011, the Juventa theater was forced to leave the university because it could no longer exist in the circumstances that were not in favor of the theater. Until that time, the main stage of the theater was the Column Hall of the Russian State Pedagogical University. Herzen. Now the stage of the theater is the New Theater "ALEKO". Today the troupe performs on various stages of the city.
The actors of the Juventa Theater are graduates of the Pedagogical University and other higher educational institutions.
