The "School Theater" festival opens in Vitebsk

April 16, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. The "School Theater" festival opens today in Vitebsk, Svetlana Dashkevich, head of the literary department of the Yakub Kolas National Academic Drama Theater, told a BELTA correspondent. This year, stage readings by senior students (grades 9-11) will be held on the stage of the Kolas Theater for the 16th time and will be dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the birth of Belarusian People's Writers Yanka Kupala and Yakub Kolas. 10 student groups representing educational institutions of the regional center will compete for victory in the festival. The drama club of six- and seven-graders from Secondary School No. 33 will perform "Kvyetki pad livnem" by Igor Sidoruk out of competition. Performances based on the works of Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas, Aleksei Dudarev, Vladimir Korotkevich, Fyodor Polochianin, Olga Gapeeva, and other famous Belarusian authors, performed by young amateur artists, will be shown at the theater for two days. Following the review of all competitive works, the jury will name the groups that have achieved the highest professionalism in acting and scenography. They will be awarded honorary diplomas and prizes. The best participants of the competition, recognized for the best male and female lead roles, as well as for the best male and female supporting roles, will receive a recommendation from the jury for admission to the acting department of the Belarusian State Academy of Arts. The names of the winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on April 17 at 3:00 PM. In addition, on the last day of the festival at 12:00 PM, the jury chairman, Honored Artist of Belarus, Professor, Dean of the Theater Department of the Belarusian State Academy of Arts, Vladimir Mishchanchuk, will hold a review with consultations for young people who wish to make acting their future profession on the Kolas stage. -0-