The Melikhovo Spring festival, which will be held for the 23rd time at the writer’s estate near Moscow fr om May 19 to May 28, 2023, has announced its program. The 2023 playbill includes theaters from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ryazan, Vorkuta, Nizhny Novgorod, Sevastopol, Vladimir, Perm, Vologda and other cities. This year the festival will have a new stage and a new artistic director - the artistic director of the Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. Chekhov Konstantin Khabensky.

In total, 20 theaters will take part in the annual International Theater Festival “Melikhovo Spring” this time. The festival is held by the A.P. Museum-Reserve. Chekhov "Melikhovo" with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Moscow Region.

Theaters and creative groups are traditionally invited to participate in the festival with performances based on the works of Chekhov or about him. Applications were accepted from September to December 2022. A total of 75 applications were submitted, from which the festival’s Expert Council formed the final program. In addition to performances by professional theaters, the festival’s poster includes several productions from theater universities.

It is noteworthy that the audience of “Melikhovo Spring - 2023” will be treated to a new open stage with an enlarged indoor auditorium, which will be located in the very heart of the Chekhov estate in the “Gooseberry” meadow; it will host half of all festival events. Performances will also be held in the Melikhovo Theater Izba and on the stage of the Serpukhov Musical and Drama Theater.

2023 is a year of cooperation and cross dates for the Melikhovo Museum-Reserve and the Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. Chekhov. Much in common and, above all, the very figure of the great writer and his work, connect the museum and the theater. It is no coincidence that the opening of Melikhovo Spring this year will be special.

For the first time in Melikhovo, the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater will present its project “Landscape Theater”, which was created with the goal of going beyond the usual stage space. The inspiration for the project was the artistic director of the Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. Chekhov, and from 2023, the artistic director of the Melikhovo Spring festival, Konstantin Khabensky. Landscape theater are short outdoor performances created by a theater specifically for a specific location. This time such a production is being prepared directly for the Melikhovo estate. The Moscow Art Theater will also give the final salvo of the festival - it will show its play “My Life” based on the work of the same name by A.P. Chekhov.

Konstantin Khabensky, artistic director of the Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. Chekhov and the International Theater Festival "Melikhovo Spring":

“Chekhov is an iconic figure for the Moscow Art Theater and, at the same time, a constant connecting thread of our theater and the Melikhovo Museum-Reserve. Chekhov's “The Seagull” was written in Melikhovo, and on the stage of the art theater it soared to unattainable heights, subsequently upending the canons and traditions of the entire world dramatic theater. This invisible connection has lasted for many years, and now it will become even stronger. It is a great joy and a great responsibility to be at the same time the director of the theater named after Chekhov, and to take artistic direction of the oldest festival in the country dedicated to the work of the great writer. A festival that shows what Chekhov is like today.”

As part of the main program of the twenty-third Melikhovo Spring, which includes productions based on the works of Chekhov or about himself, the Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. will present their performances. Chekhov, Vladimir Academic Regional Drama Theatre, Ryazan State Drama Theatre, Vorkuta Drama Theater named after B.A. Mordvinov, Sevastopol and Nizhny Novgorod theaters for young spectators, "TSEKH THEATER" and the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts from St. Petersburg, "Workshop Theater" from Moscow, as well as theaters near Moscow - Istrinsky Drama Theater, Chekhov Studio Theater of the Melikhovo Museum-Reserve ", Mytishchi theater "FEST" and Moscow regional puppet theater.

In addition, every year the festival hosts a special program dedicated to another author. At the upcoming festival, the special program “Chekhov +” will feature performances based on the works of A.N. Ostrovsky, whose 200th anniversary is celebrated this year. Productions based on Ostrovsky’s works at the festival will be shown by the School of Dramatic Art from Moscow, the Perm Theater “U Mosta”, the St. Petersburg Theater “Subbota”, the Vologda Drama Theater and the Serpukhov Musical Drama Theater.

Anastasia Zhuravleva, General Director of the A.P. Museum-Reserve Chekhov "Melikhovo":

“The Melikhovo Festival is 23 years old. It began with theatrical meetings and grew into a large theatrical show, wh ere you can see very different Chekhov - traditional and avant-garde, chamber and monumental, lyrical, tragic, comic, but always modern. We are convinced of this every year when theaters fr om dozens of cities come to show their author’s interpretation of Chekhov and his immortal works, many of which were born in Melikhovo, wh ere Chekhov lived during his incredible period.