Director Of Popular Belarusian Theaters Fired

Many actors have also left the theater.

Sviatlana Karukina has been fired from her post as director of the Republican Theater of Belarusian Drama. This was reported to the editorial board of Zerkalo by her own sources.

According to their information, this happened back in July of this year. This was confirmed by changes on the theater's website. Karukina's last name and portrait have disappeared from there.

Sviatlana Karukhina was born in 1969 in Minsk. In 1993, she graduated from the philological faculty of the Belarusian State University. Since 2005, she has worked at the Republican Theater of Belarusian Drama: as a leading marketing specialist, chief administrator, and deputy director. In July 2018, she became the director of RTBD, replacing Uladzimir Karacheuski, who was appointed general director of the National Film Studio Belarusfilm in March of that year.

Recently, RTBD has remained one of the most popular Belarusian theatrical collectives. However, repressions did not bypass it.

In the autumn of 2020, actors Mikalai Stonka and Andrei Novik left RTBD. The former did so in protest against censorship. The latter — “in solidarity with the strikers and the fired”. In May 2021, Illya Yasinski left the country. In 2020, he took part in protest marches. During one of them, he was detained and his vertebrae were broken. At the end of December 2021, artistic director of the theater Aliaksandr Hartsuyeu was fired. He had headed RTBD since 2012.

In March - early April 2022, four actors left or were fired from the theater: Alena Bayarava, Maryja Piatrovich, Maryna Zdravankova, and Maksim Shyshko. The latter was detained at an anti-war demonstration on February 27.

Sviatlana Navumenka became the new director of the RTBD. She was born in 1964. By her first profession, she was an actress, worked at the capital's Youth Theater. Then she received a director's education, staged plays in various Belarusian theaters. She has been working at the RTBD since 2010.

Recently, layoffs in Belarusian theaters have become regular. In early April 2024, the artistic director of the Vitsebsk theater “Lyalka” Viktar Klimchuk was fired. In March — the director of the capital's Musical Theater Siarhei Pukita. Director of the Belarusian Puppet Theater Dzmitry Siamionau also lost his job, in April. True, it later turned out that he had been promoted to become deputy head of the Minsk City Executive Committee's Department of Culture. In May, artistic director of the National Opera and Ballet Theatre Valiantsina Yelizaryeu was fired.

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