Aleksey Dmitrievich Popov (Алексей Дмитриевич Попов; 1891-1961) was a leading

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

who managed the

Soviet Army Theatre The Central Academic Theatre of the Russian Army (Russian: Центральный академический театр Российской армии) is the largest theatre in Moscow. It was established in 1929 as the Red Army Theatre, was rena ...

between 1935 and 1960. He was awarded three Stalin Prizes and was named a

People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR ( rus, Народный артист СССР, Narodny artist SSSR), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. Nomenclature and significan ...

in 1946. His son

Andrei Andrei, Andrey or Andrej (in Cyrillic script: Андрэй , Андрей or Андреј) is a form of Andreas/Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include: *Andrei of Polotsk (–1399), Lithuanian nobleman *A ...

was also a notable actor. Popov made his directorial debut in 1923 at

Vakhtangov Yevgeny Bagrationovich Vakhtangov (also spelled Evgeny or Eugene; russian: Евге́ний Багратио́нович Вахта́нгов; 13 February 1883 – 29 May 1922) was a Russian-Armenian actor and theatre director who founded the ...

's studio and gained wide recognition as the chief director of the Revolution Theatre in 1931-35. After moving to the Red Army Theatre in 1935, Popov "perfected the bombastic style of the battle drama on the enormous firing range of a stage". Popov's theatre became known for monumental war-themed productions with

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

ic touches.''The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Europe''. Taylor / Francis, 2001. . Page 710. Popov was appointed Dean of the

GITIS The Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) (russian: Российский институт театрального искусства – ГИТИС) is the largest and oldest independent theatrical arts school in Russia. Located in Moscow, ...

theatre academy shortly before his death. He authored several lengthy theoretical works and a book of memoirs. His disciples include

Anatoly Efros Anatoly Vasilievich Efros (russian: Анатолий Васильевич Эфрос; July 3, 1925, Kharkiv — January 13, 1987, Moscow) was a Soviet theatre and film director. He was a leading interpreter of Russian classics during the Era of St ...

and Leonid Kheifets.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Popov, Aleksey 1891 births 1961 deaths Soviet theatre directors People's Artists of the USSR Theatre theorists Stalin Prize winners Recipients of the Order of Lenin Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Soviet drama teachers Communist Party of the Soviet Union members People's Artists of the RSFSR Soviet male silent film actors