Three leading actors from the Voronezh Chamber Theater in western Russia have resigned in protest at the dismissal of the theater's artistic director for his stance against Moscow's war in Ukraine.
Natalya Shevchenko, Tatyana Babenkova, and Yana Kuzina announced their decision on the theater's page on the V Kontakte social network after artistic director and founder of the theater Mikhail Bychkov was fired by the Culture Ministry on November 22 without an official explanation.
Local news portal Vesti Voronezh reported, citing a regional authority source, that the reason for the dismissal of the 66-year-old Bychkov was that he "has not lost the desire to write open letters of condemnation," and that the theater had made no effort to support "participants in the special military operation" -- the term used officially by Moscow in reference to the invasion of Ukraine -- "and members of their families by offering them discounted tickets."
Natalya Shevchenko (file photo)
Bychkov, who has not commented on the decision, is one of 17 Russian cultural personalities who signed an open letter on February 26, 2022, urging an immediate stop to the invasion of Ukraine that had begun two days before.
Last spring, Bychkov resigned from the Presidential Council for Culture and the Arts.
Following Bychkov's dismissal, 60 employees of the Voronezh Chamber Theater sent an open letter to the Culture Ministry, the governor of the Voronezh region, and the presidential administration calling for Bychkov's return as artistic director "of the theater that he created."
The letter has received no official response.
One of the three actors who resigned, Shevchenko, is an "honored artist of Russia" and one of the founders of the theater. Babenkova and Kuzina have been nominated for the Golden Mask -- Russia's national theater award.