Leningrad Lenin Komsomol Theater

founded in 1936 with the merger of the Theater of Young Workers (organized in 1925) and the Red Theater (organized in 1926). The theater was directed by V. P. Kozhich prior to 1940 and by M. V. Chezhegov from 1941 to 1949. From 1942 to 1945 the theater operated near Arkhangel’sk and later in the Urals.

G. A. Tovstonogov headed the Leningrad Lenin Komsomol Theater from 1949 to 1956. He produced “Somewhere in Siberia” by Iroshnikova (1949); By the Road of Immortality, based on Iu. Fucik’s A Word Before the Execution (1951; State Prize of the USSR, 1952); Death of a Squadron by Korneichuk (1952); and First Spring by Nikolaeva and Radzinskii (1955).

The theater, devoting considerable energy to problems of the spiritual development of Soviet youth, has staged A Tale About the Truth by Aliger (1946; State Prize of the USSR, 1947), The Young Guard (based on the novel by A. A. Fadeev; 1947), Ninth Symphony by Printsev (1966), Aleksei and Ol’ga by Gerasimov and Uspenskii (1968), and Liubov’ Iarovaia by Trenev (1970). Other productions include Guilty Without Guilt (1938) and The Last Victim (1945) by Ostrovskii, New Men (based on N. G. Chernyshevsky’s novel What Is to Be Done?; 1953), and The Insulted and the Injured (based on the Dostoevsky novel; 1956).

The theater was directed by A. V. Pergament during 1956–58 and by P. O. Khomskii during 1961–63. In 1973 the theater troupe included Honored Artists of the RSFSR M. D. Ladygin, I. I. Leirer, N. A. Medvedeva, and M. S. Khrabrov and Honored Artist of the Latvian SSR P. P. Gorin. G. M. Oporkov became the chief director in 1971.