Smelyansky, Anatoly Mironovich

Anatoly Smelyansky was born in Gorky, the youngest (sixth) child in the family of Miron Borisovich Altshuler (1893-1959) ^[5] and Tsili Lvovna Altshuler (1901-1977) ^[6] , a native of Belarus ^[4] . After graduating from eight grades of high school, he studied at the studio at the Gorky Youth Theater and was even involved in some theater performances, but after the death of his father the studio had to leave ^[4] .

Entering the Metallist plant as a planer’s apprentice, he studied at evening school and, after graduating from it, went to Moscow in 1960 to enter the Moscow Art Theater School . But he was not accepted and, returning to Gorky, in the same year entered the historical and philological faculty of the Pedagogical Institute named after Gorky, who graduated in 1965 ^[4] .

After graduation, Smelyansky briefly taught Russian language and literature in high school. In 1966 he was invited to the Gorky Youth Theater as head of the literary section. At the same time, he began to teach the history of Russian theater at the Gorky Theater School, which Smelyansky had to study in parallel with teaching. Then, in the late 60s, he began to be published in the press as a theater critic, including in Moscow - in the journal “ Theater ” ^[4] .

In 1972, Smelyansky defended his thesis on the works of M. Bulgakov at the Institute of Art Studies (among the opponents were Marianna Stroeva and Alexander Karaganov ). In 1975, he was invited to Moscow as the head of the literary part of the Central Theater of the Soviet Army , and in 1980 - to a similar post at the Moscow Art Theater ^[4] . Since that time, for more than 30 years, the fate of Anatoly Smelyansky (after moving to Moscow began to be published under the name of his wife - Tatyana Smelyanskaya ^[1] ) has been associated with the Art Theater; after the split of the Moscow Art Theater in 1987, he became an assistant, and in 1997 - deputy art director of the Moscow Art Theater. A.P. Chekhov ; this post Smelyansky holds to this day ^[7] .

In June 1986, Smelyansky defended his doctoral dissertation “Interpretation of Russian Classics on the Stage of a Modern Theater” at the Institute of Art Studies, the basis for which served as his first book, “Our Interlocutors. Russian classical drama on the stage of the Soviet theater of the seventies ”, published back in 1981 ^[4] .

In the mid-90s, Smelyansky organized and since then headed the Moscow Art Theater publishing house ^[7] .

Teaching

Anatoly Smelyansky pays a lot of attention to teaching: since 1987 he was vice - rector of the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio for Scientific Work; in 2000 he became its rector, left this post of his own free will and was elected President of the School in 2013 ^{[7] [8]} .

He conducts educational activities not only in Russia but also abroad: he taught at dozens of universities, including Harvard , Yale , Sorbonne , Oxford . Since the beginning of the 90s, Smelyansky has been teaching the history of the theater at the Stanislavsky Summer School in the USA , as well as managing a joint graduate program created by the Moscow Art Theater School and the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University ^[7] .

Anatoly Smelyansky is the author of numerous articles (over 400) and books about the Russian theater. One of the first, even in his student years, he began to engage in the work of Mikhail Bulgakov, and in 1986 his book “Mikhail Bulgakov at the Art Theater” was published, in 1993 published in English under the name Is Comrade Bulgakov Dead? ^[9] .

The publishing house "Moscow Art Theater" under the editorship of Smelyansky published a two-volume "Moscow Art Theater. 100 years ”and a number of other books; he is the editor-in-chief of the new collected works of KS Stanislavsky in 9 volumes ^[7] .

Since 1997, Smelyansky has been actively cooperating with the TV channel "Culture". The most important cycles of the programs are “Secrets of the portrait foyer”, “Mikhail Bulgakov. Black Snow ”,“ Theater Lyceum ”,“ Growing Meaning ”(2006),“ Cross-cutting Action ”(2007),“ Mikhail Chekhov. Sense of the Whole ”(2009) and“ Proposed Circumstances ”, for which he was awarded the TEFI national television prize in 2005. On the occasion of the 150th birthday of A.P. Chekhov, Smelyansky prepared a series of programs about the Chekhov Theater in the 20th and 21st centuries “You live in such a climate ...” (2010), on the 75th birthday of O.P. Tabakov , “Oleg Tabakov. In search of joy. (Theatrical novel at five evenings) ”(2011), for which he was awarded another national television prize“ TEFI ”,“ Mkhatchiki. Theater of the Times Oleg Efremov ”(2012),“ Konstantin Stanislavsky. After my life in art ”(2013),“ Silhouettes ”(2013).

• Wife - Tatyana Nikolaevna Smelyanskaya (born 1942), graduate of the historical department of the historical and philological faculty of the Gorky Pedagogical Institute, candidate of philosophical sciences (“The Problem of the Genesis of Social Theories”, 1974).
  • Daughter - Julia Anatolyevna Smelyanskaya (born 1970), a graduate of the Department of Art History of Moscow State University and graduate school at Yale University ^[10] .

• Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1993)
• Order of Honor (1999)
• Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (2002) ^[11] .
• Prize of the International Fund of K. S. Stanislavsky (2003) ^[7]
• State Prize of the Russian Federation (2004) - for the publication of the heritage of the founders of the Art Theater ^[7]
• National Television Award “ TEFI ” (2005) - for the author's program “Proposed Circumstances” created for the TV channel “Culture” ^[7]
• Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" III degree (2008) ^[12]
• Triumph Award (2009) ^[7]
• National Television Award “TEFI” (2010) - for the author’s program “Oleg Tabakov. In search of joy ”, created for the channel“ Culture ” ^[7]
• Officer of the Order of Arts and Literature of the French Republic (2013) ^[13]
• National Television Award “TELEGRAND” (2014) - for a significant contribution to the creation of television programs on culture and high professional excellence
• Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (2018) - for his merits in the development of domestic culture and art, many years of fruitful activity ^[14]

• The Central Academic Theater of the Soviet Army: 50 years / ed. A.M.Smelyansky. - M .: Art, 1980.
• Smelyansky, A. M. Our interlocutors: Russian classical drama on the stage of the Soviet theater of the seventies. - M .: Art, 1981. - 367 p.
• Smelyansky, A. M. Mikhail Bulgakov at the Art Theater / foreword. O. N. Efremova . - M .: Art, 1986.- 464 p. - [2nd ed .: 1989].
• Smelyansky, A. M. Soviet Theater: The main directions and trends in the development of the modern stage. - M .: Publishing house AP "News", 1986. - 91 p. - [Released in five languages].
• Theater ... time for a change: collection of articles / comp. A.M.Smelyansky, M.E. Shvydkoi . - M .: Art, 1987 .-- 222 p.
• Smelyansky, A.M. Oleg Efremov: a theatrical portrait. - M .: Union of theatrical figures of the RSFSR, 1987. - 227 p.
• Smelyansky, A. M. Word Order: An Essay on Three Theater Seasons, 1985-1988. - M .: Knowledge, 1988 .-- 56 p. - (New in life, science, technology. Ser. Art; No. 12).
• Smelyansky, A. M. Care: Bulgakov, Stalin, "Batum". - M .: True, 1988.
• Smelyansky, A. M. Sovetsky Theater: Reflections of the critic about the last theatrical seasons. - M .: News, 1990. - 180 p.
• Smelyansky, A. M. I want to understand you ... - M .: Knowledge, 1991. - 56 p. - (New in life, science, technology. Ser. Art; No. 2). - ISBN 5-07-001769-1 .
• Moscow Art Theater - a hundred years: Names and documents. - M .: Moscow Art Theater, 1998.
• Smelyansky, A. M. Suggested circumstances: From the life of Russian theater in the second half of the 20th century. - M .: Artist. Producer. Theater, 1999 .-- 352 p. - ISBN 5-87334-038-2 .
• Smelyansky, A. M .; Egoshina, O .; Udaltsova, Z. V. Director's Theater: Conversations under the curtain of the century. - M .: Moscow Art Theater, 1999 and 2001 (issue I), 2004 (issue II).
• Smelyansky, A. M. Interjection of time. - M .: Art, 2002. - ISBN 5-85200-302-6 .
• Smelyansky, A. M .; Udaltsova, Z. V. Family album. - M .: Moscow Art Theater, 2003. - 237 p.
• Smelyansky, A. M. The departing nature. A voice from zero. - M .: AST, 2013 .-- 750 p. - ISBN 978-5-17-077095-3 .

In English

• Smeliansky, AM Is Comrade Bulgakov Dead? : Mikhail Bulgakov and the Moscow Art Theater (Biography and Autobiography). - L .: Methuen Drama; N. Y .: Routledge, 1993 .-- 384 p. - ISBN 0413630706 .
• Smeliansky, AM The Russian Theater After Stalin. - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999 .-- 272 p. - (Cambridge Studies in Modern Theater). - ISBN 0521-58235-0 .
• Smeliansky, AM After My Life in Art. - L .: Routledge, 2012 .-- 288 p. - ISBN 0878300635 .

• Anatoly Mironovich Smelyansky (neopr.) . Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. Chekhov . Date of treatment December 4, 2013.
• Smelyansky Anatoly Mironovich (neopr.) . International Joint Biographical Center. Date of treatment December 4, 2013.
• Rakhimov, Azamat. Anatoly Smelyansky: “Theater is the nervous end of the country” (neopr.) (Interview). Our newspaper (October 16, 2013). Date of treatment December 4, 2013.