Keen competition for Kyiv Pectoral award
The World Theater Day is traditionally marked on March 27. On this day the winners of Ukraine’s most prestigious Kyiv Pectoral Award are announced in Kyiv. This award was founded by the Kyiv branch of the National Union of Theater Actors of Ukraine. This year the Ivan Franko Theater will host the 18th Pectoral Award Ceremony.
Last year Kyiv’s theaters showed an exemplary performance — the board of experts had to assess some 90 premieres. Their opinions were quite contradictory, so the organizing committee had to withdraw three nominations: “Best Supporting Actor,” “Best Plasticity,” and “Best Debut,” as well as combine two women’s nominations, “Best Actress” and “Best Supporting Actress.” Also, the nomination “Best Stage Direction Debut” became “Best Debut”. So the Kyiv Pectoral jury will name 10 winners. According to Svitlana Zorina, head of the Kyiv City State Administration’s Department for Culture, every winner will receive an amount in hryvnias equivalent of ,000.
The Left-Bank Drama and Comedy Theater’s All Good Things Come to an End competes for most nominations: “Best Play” (director Oleksii Lisovets), “Best Actress” (Olesia Zhuravska), “Best Scenography” (Oleh Luniov), and “Best Music” (Oleksii Lisovets). Another top competitor was the play Sweet Dreams, Richard by the Free Stage Theater, which was nominated for the nominations ”Best Musical Play,” “Best Chamber Performance,” “Best Director” (Dmytro Bohomazov), “Best Scenography” (Oleksandr Druhanov), and “Best Music” (Danylo Pertsev).
Apart from Sweet Dreams, Richard, several other productions are nominated for the “Best Musical Play,” including Ivan Franko Theater’s Edith Piaf: La vie en rose and Beniuk & Khostikoiev Theater Company’s Danube Cossack beyond the Rapids, while the nominees for the “Best Chamber Performance” include Chaste Ladies’ Man of the New Drama Theater in Pechersk and Misunderstanding by the Free Stage Theater.
The Young Spectator Theater in Lypky (Poliana), the Left-Bank Drama and Comedy Theater (Tom Sawyer), and the Academic Puppet Theater (The Frog Tsarevna) are vying for the best children’s production.
The competitors for the “Best Actor” award are Ihor Rubashkin in the Pechersk New Drama Theater’s Chaste Ladies’ Man, Yurii Mazhuha in the Lesia Ukrainka Theater’s At Sunset, and Bohdan Beniuk in the Podil Theater’s One Hundred Thousand.
The nominated actresses make up an equally interesting list: apart from Olesia Zhurakovska, there are Nadia Kondratovska in the Constellation Theater’s Lettice and Lovage, Lesia Samaieva in the Left Bank Drama and Comedy Theater’s Lolita.
Vitalii Malakhov is third on the list for the “Best Director” award with his play One Hundred Thousand in the Podil Theater. This play and the above mentioned Lolita rank among the top three drama plays.
Maria Pohrebniak with her stage design for the Ivan Franko Theater’s Legend of Faustus is yet another candidate for the “Best Scenography” prize.
Serhii Boiko, a popular actor in the Podil Theater, was placed among the three nominees for the “Best Debut” award for his stage direction in Intermission. He is a serious rival to such young stage directors as Ksenia Kholodniakova (Days Whistling By, the Left-Bank Theater) and Artem Cherpakov (Female Typists, the Constellation Theater).
Let us wait until the World Theater Day to learn who the 10 winners are.
