On 7, 8 and 9 June, in the concert hall of the Sredets House of Culture in Sofia, the young actors from the theatre studio "Igra" will present the premiere of the performance When the Roses Dance by Valery Petrov. In the second half of the month, from 17 to 22 June, there will be a second premiere of A Musical for Five Pennies by composer Yuri Stupel, based on The Three-Penny Opera by Bertolt Brecht. 

The two performances are dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Municipal Cultural Institute Sredets House of Culture, where in 1996 the Theatre Studio "Igra" began its activity.

"Today, Igra Theatre Studio prepares almost 40% of the young people who study at the National Academy of Theatre and Film Art. Among our graduates there are already many established names who are performing in the Bulgarian theater and cinema, not a few have achieved successful careers abroad. After graduating from the film academy, four of our graduates managed to form a theatre company based in New York and invited me to create together one of the performances - The Lost Germans by Dejan Dukovski. The play was a great success. I had a lot of help from the Bulgarian community, the Macedonian community and the Consular Section of the Bulgarian Embassy. A lot of critics came to the premiere, gave a very high evaluation of the play, nominated it for an award..."

"The goal of all of us who work with young people is to broaden their worldview, to preserve the most valuable part of theatre, of acting. It's getting harder, but I'm not giving up, and I'm not going to give up, because I see the huge result of our work. The plays we put on are getting more serious, our graduates are finding it hard to settle for more elementary dramaturgy. I am convinced that one learns to swim in deep water. My great satisfaction is the results these young people are achieving. Many of them are breaking into the theatres very quickly. I tell them from the very beginning that if they are going to be serious about it, they have to be in the visible ranks of the arts, and they strive for that."

Photos: BTA, Igra Theatre Studio

English publication by Rositsa Petkova