In the capital of city of Mari El, Yoshkar-Ola, there are 4 Theaters:
• The Shketan Mari National Theater. M. Shketan played a great role in the creation of this Theater. There is a bust to him near the Theater.
• The Konstantinov Russian Drama Theater. The Theater got its name after its former stage manager in 1994.
• The Puppet Theater for children.
• The Sapaev Opera and Ballet Theater. It was named after Sapaev in 1994.
The Shketan Mari National Theater used to be called differently: the Musical Theater and the Mari Music and Drama Theater. It was opened in 1920 and in 1929 it became a professional Theater which was housed in different buildings of the town. The present magnificent buildings of the Mari National Theater with its beautiful columns was opened in our town in Lenin Square in 1960. It has a hall for 800 people. The plays in this Theater are performed in the national language with the synchronous translation into the Russian language. On the 19th of March, 1995 the Theater celebrated its 75th anniversary.
The Konstantinov Russian Drama Theater is located on Chavain Boulevard. Its history goes back to 1937 when this Theater was located on K. Marx street. The Puppet Theater was opened in our town in 1942. Now it is placed in a new building in K. Marx street. Children like to attend puppet shows at this Theater. The performances of this Theater were a great success in Moscow in April of 1994.
The performances of the Sapaev Opera and Ballet Theater are staged in the building of the Mari National Theater. Those who like to go to this Theater know the names of such opera singer sand dancers: A. Shved, N. Kovaleva,T. Perepelitsa, E. Komleva, L. Ushakova, Y. Tupikov, L. Barysheva, B. Dobrynin and others.
The repertoire of our Theater is very wide. We can listen to operas by Tchaikovsky, Rossini, Verdi, Bizet, Gounod, Puccini, etc., operettas by Strauss and Lehar. The first Mari opera «Akpatyr» by E. Sapaev based on the drama by S. Chavain was staged on the 5th of April, 1963 and is still in the repertoire. Boris Artemyev sang the part of the legendary hero Akpatyr. T. Labutina sang the main part of Evika.
Another national opera “Elnet” by I. Molotov based on the novel by S. Chavain was also a great success for its music and signing. N. Kovaleva performed the part of Chacha. N. Kovaleva has a beautiful voice and is a good actress. Lovers of ballet can admire the beautiful ballets “Swan Lake”, “ The Nutcracker”, “The Angara”, “Giselle” and others.
The first national ballet “The forest Legend” by A. Luppov was staged on the 17th of February, 1974 with A. Alexandrova, G. Klimanova and V. Kuzminyk in the main parts who created the vivid images of Erica, Shaivi and Keremet.
The repertoire of the Mari National Theater is very wide. “Salika”- one of the national historical plays by the famous playwright S. Nikolaev was first staged in 1936. Since that time it has been staged more than 700 times. Another play “Aivika” was first staged in 1948.
The repertoire of this theater is not limited to the plays by Mari national playwrights A. Volkov, S. Nikolaev, M. Rybakov, etc. It also stages the plays by M.Gorky “Vassa Zheleleznova”, V. Vishnevsky “The Optimistic Tragedy”, A. Chehov “The Cherry Orchard” and others. The comedies “The marriage” by N. Gogol, “Salika” by S. Nikolaev, “The Blaze of Coins” by V. Pekteev, the drama “The Confession” by S. Elembaev are in the repertoire of the Shketan Mari National Theater.
The dilogy “The March of Akpars” based on the novel by A. Krupnyakov in successfully staged in the Konstantinov Russian Drama Theater. The famous actors and actresses play both tragic and comic parts. Among them we can mention the names of such talented actors and actresses as N. Popova, N. Shvedova, N. Repyeva, D. Repyev, N. Konstantinova, etc.
The well-known actor Igor Kostolevsky came to our town as a guest of the Russian Drama Theater in February 1995.
Theater-goers think that a theater is a good place for spending their pastime and enjoying themselves. Many of our actors, actresses, singers and dancers are honored Artists of the Russian Federation and People’s Artists of the Mari Republic.