BEST Student Theater

The BEST Student Theater (Big Experimental Student Theater) was founded on November 19, 2002. The actors of the Theater are the students and the graduates of different institutes of PetrSU. The Director is Nadezhda Shablikova, the Candidate of Philological Sciences, the Associate Professor of the Department of the English Language of the Institute of Foreign Languages, artistic director of the T-Art Festival of Youth and Student Amateur Theaters. Among the graduates of the Theater are Ekaterina Andreeva, the actress of the Puppet Theater of Karelia, Dmitrii Ivanov, the actor of the National Theater of Karelia, Maksim Aliev, the correspondent and presenter of Sampo-TV.

Since 2002 the BEST has produced 30 performances, three of them are in the English language:

• Short play Katienka after Taffy’s story, 2003
•  Amateur variety revue Three Piglets, 2003
• Who’s There? (S. Altov), 2003 and 2009
• Comedy The End of Europe in Strastnaia Square (N. Erdman), 2003 and 2010
• Play in the English language One Man… One Woman… based on the stories by Hemingway, 2003
• Сomedy Last Judgment (S. Konovalova and A. Tkachenko), 2004 and 2005
• Divertissement Tales of Love, 2004 and 2012
• Play for children Big Day of Bartholomew the Cat (V. Iansiukevich), 2004
• Play in the English language Sorry, Wrong Number…  (Lucille Fletcher), 2005
• Literature and musical performance In Memory of the Fallen, 2005
• Bless the Bright Hour (memorials) (Lev Protalin), 2005
• Duo of Two Stories in the English language (Chaser by J. Collier and Hills Like White Elephants by E. Hemingway), 2206
• Russian version of Sorry, Wrong Number… (L. Fletcher), 2006
• Tale Smile of the Fate (I. Medvedeva and T. Shishova), 2007
• Comedy Trouble with the Gentle Heart (V. Sologub), 2008
• Amateur variety revue Our 5,5-year Anniversary, 2008
• Tale Nesmeiana (literary adaptation by L. Korsunskii) featuring art group Karelian Souvenir, 2008
• Short play  Hills Like White Elephants after the story by E. Hemingway, 2009
• A musical tale based on the tale by Else Beskov The Girl with Blooming Hair (in Russian and English), 2009
• Performance for the first-year students The Wedding of Lady Academy and Sir First-Year, 2009
• The Work Written Upside Down  (Reet Kudu), 2009 and 2010
• Me and You (Ingeborg von Tsadov), 2011 and 2012
• Musical The Fates of Things, 2011 and 2012
• Anniversary event Our 10-year Anniversary and the remake of the play Tales of Love, 2012
• Trolleybus based on the stories by L. Engibarov, A. Gavalda, V. Polozkova, R. Young, E. Grishkovets, 2013 and 2014
• Snow White and Seven Dwarfs (L. Ustinov and O. Tabakov), 2014

Around 246 students have learned the acting skills in the Theater.

Achievements

• Genius Charge Contest of Student Art Groups, Petrozavodsk:

2003 – the 3rd place for the short play Katienka after Taffy’s story

2007 – the prize-winner for the play Sorry, Wrong Number… (L. Fletcher)

2009 – the prize-winner in the nomination “Variety Show” for the short play  Hills Like White Elephants after the story by E. Hemingway

2013 – the short play by L. Engibarov Umbrella performed by the actress of the BEST Anastasiia Sizova won the first place in the nomination Art of Declaration.

• In 2010 the BEST showed the play The Work Written Upside Down (Reet Kudu) at the Theatrash Festival of Student Theaters in Ekaterinburg. The Theater actor Nikolai Artemov received the diploma for Vivid Performance.
• The Theater has taken part in the 4th and the Golden Keys 5th International Children’s and Youth Festival (Petrozavodsk). Musical tale in the English language The Girl with Blooming Hair based on the tale by Else Beskov has received the diploma for lyricism, genuine performance, and fairytale-like atmosphere. Diplomas have also been awarded to the actor of the Theater Dariia Rozhina for the lead role and Dmitrii Ivanov for the funniest character.
• In 2012 retro-musical The Fates of Things after the tale by F. Krivin received the diploma for originality and Zakhar Kiselev was marked for his performance of Nail-Man.
• In March 2004 the BEST Theater organized the First Festival of Student Theaters in the North-West where it presented the comedy Last Judgment and won in the nominations Best Makeup and Costumes, Best Male Lead and Best Supporting Male. In 2011 at T-Art Festival the play Me and You (Ingeborg von Tsadov) received the diplomas in the nominations Recognition and Best Acting Duo (Dmitrii Kvachadze and Nilokai Artemov).
• The T-Art Festival of 2014 has awarded the BEST with 4 diplomas: Most Original Theatrical Route, Best Monologue by Aleksandr Kravtsov, Best Background Music and personal diploma The Heart and the Soul of the Festival was awarded to the director of the BEST Nadezhda Shablikova.