For thirty years, I have been engaged in creativity, and my primary interlocutor, opponent, critic, and assistant has always been the Audience. The Moscow audience is active, energetic, interesting, and inquisitive. It is the audience, their reactions, and feedback that greatly assist me as the artistic director of the theater in maintaining a clear perspective on things. Sometimes their responses prompt me to view what once seemed familiar in a new light.
We decided to trust the audience. We have already begun selling tickets under new rules. For two weeks, we conducted a survey among our audience to gauge their feelings about the proposed changes. The results are as follows: there are no issues with the new rules! Our audience quickly adapted to these changes. We did not notice any decline in ticket sales. I was concerned that some might express dissatisfaction; however, there were no complaints whatsoever. Not a single conflict or grievance — neither from seasoned viewers nor from the youth.
I tip my hat to our audience, acknowledge my previous misjudgments, and testify: the new rules are a viable framework. Now, I don’t just assume this — I have verified it and know that these rules will not lead to any complications for theaters.
In my seven years of leading the "Modern" theater, I have repeatedly had the opportunity to witness that the Department of Culture of the Moscow government has chosen an effective strategy for managing the capital's theatrical landscape. They support us, engage in dialogue, and listen to our needs. All of this allows theaters to evolve, refine their style, and search for their unique identity. This is especially valuable and unique given that, in film, the situation is quite the opposite: we have long lost the phenomenon of film studios. In film production, there is no longer a distinct signature. There is merely a process of content production and venues where this content is sold. In theater, however, this uniqueness and diversity have been preserved. Good theaters all have their own identity and concept. Much of this is the result of the constructive policies of the Department of Culture of the Moscow government, which maintains a balance of creativity, responsibility, and individuality.
I recall a moment during one of the meetings of Moscow theater directors with the city mayor, where one of the theater leaders suggested: why don’t we, Sergey Semyonovich, build a theater district in Moscow? To which S. S. Sobyanin replied: we will not build a theater district; we will build a theatrical Moscow!
Seven years ago, I came to "Modern" — a theater in ruins with a million problems. Over these seven years, we have managed to relaunch the theater. My heartfelt and endless gratitude for this miracle goes to my colleagues at the theater, our audience, and our supporters in the city’s Department of Culture. The theatrical Moscow is not just a slogan or a marketing trick. It is a fact to celebrate. And I am glad to live in theatrical Moscow and, to the best of my ability, to be a part of it.