Lev Shulimovich Shekhtman (russian: Лев Шулимович Ше́хтман; born March 10, 1951) is a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 ...

and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Life and career

Lev Shekhtman received his earliest theatrical education at the local children's theater in his native city of

Chernivtsi Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the upp ...

(Ukraine), under the supervision of the

Merited Artist of Ukraine Merited (Performing) Artist of Ukraine (also translated as Honored (Performing) Artist of Ukraine, uk, Заслужений артист України) is a state honorary title of decoration awarded by the Ukrainian SSR and later Ukraine for o ...

V. V. Bespoletova (В.В. Бесполётова). In 1969, he enrolled in a directing/acting class at the St. Petersburg State Academy for Theatre Arts (then Leningrad State Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography), in the class of Professor A. A. Muzil (А.А. Музиль). Upon graduation, he spent three years working as a Master level Director at Vologda State Drama Theater. In 1978, he immigrated to the United States. His American directorial debut came in 1979 with

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

's "Marriage" (Н.Гоголь «Женитьба») at the Lexington Conservatory Theater ( Lexington, New York). The same year he began teaching acting and directing at Sonya Moore’s

Stanislavski Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski ( Alekseyev; russian: Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈgʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj; 7 August 1938) was a seminal Soviet Russian th ...

Studio of the Theatre in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. His New York directorial debut was a 1980

Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. Under the ...

production of "Heat of Re-Entry" by Abraham Tetenbaum. The same year, Shekhtman and his former students opened Theater in Action, based in Manhattan, which he ran and managed up until 1990. The theater contained two spaces. One functioned as a main stage, and the other as a theater school, where Shekhtman taught acting and directing. The company’s repertoire included works by

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history. His work ...

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

, Berthold Brecht, modern American playwright Michael McGuire, and Russian playwright

Grigory Gorin Grigori Gorin (russian: Григо́рий Го́рин), real name Grigori Israilevich Ofshtein (russian: Григо́рий Изра́илевич Офштейн; March 12, 1940, Moscow — June 15, 2000, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian playw ...

. His Western Hemisphere premier of Gorin’s "The House That Swift Built" opened with the presence of the author in 1986. Shekhtman in the course of his career also collaborated with several famous theater companies (

Manhattan Theater Club Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has gr ...

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

The American Place Theater The American Place Theatre was founded in 1963 by Wynn Handman, Sidney Lanier, and Michael Tolan at St. Clement's Church, 423 West 46th Street in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, and was incorporated as a not-for-profit theatre in that year. Tennes ...

and McArthur Theater in Princeton, NJ). Starting in 1986, and for the following seven years L. Shekhtman worked as an actor in various films produced by the Polish film and television director and Oscar winner

Zbigniew Rybczyński Zbigniew Rybczyński (; born 27 January 1949) is a Polish filmmaker, director, cinematographer, screenwriter, creator of experimental animated films, and multimedia artist who has won numerous prestigious industry awards both in the United Sta ...

. Among them was the 1990 Emmy award winning television film "Orchestra", in which Lev plays one of the main roles. He also played the leading role in Jennifer Montgomery’s film "Troika" in the role of the Russian politician

Vladimir Zhirinovsky Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, ''né'' Eidelshtein (russian: link=false, Эйдельштейн) (25 April 1946 – 6 April 2022) was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) fr ...

. His other film appearances include: the role of Vladimir in "Indocumentados", and KGB-1 in the film "The Life Experience". He was also featured in the Russian TV show "Citizen Boss-2." («Гражданин начальник-2») From 1995 to 2000, Shekhtman worked as a news writer and host for several Russian-language television and radio programs. In 2006, he made his debut at St. Petersburg State Molodyozhny Theatre on Fontanka (Russia) directing "Blue Roses”, («Синие розы») based on by

's “

The Glass Menagerie ''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his Histrionic persona ...

”. In 2008, at the same theatre he directed and adapted for stage a novel “Job” («Иов») by the Austrian writer

Joseph Roth Moses Joseph Roth (2 September 1894 – 27 May 1939) was an Austrian journalist and novelist, best known for his family saga '' Radetzky March'' (1932), about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, his novel of Jewish life '' Job'' ...

. In 2012, Shekhtman staged at The St. Petersburg State Molodyozhny Theatre on Fontanka his third production, his own adaptation based on a cycle of short stories by

Sergei Dovlatov Sergei Donatovich Dovlatov (russian: link=no, Сергей Донатович Довлатов; 1941 1990) was a Soviet journalist and writer. Internationally, he is one of the most popular Russian writers of the late 20th century. Biography ...

, "Ours" («Наши»), entitled "Abanamat!" («АБАНАМАТ!»). In 2014, Shekhtman staged a production of Jean Anouilh's "Antigone" at the Vladimir Regional Academical Drama Theatre in Vladimir, Russia. In 2017, the theater premiered Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms", under Shekhtman's direction. In 2017, Shekhtman co-founded the Theater of Russian Actors (TRACT) in New York City, along with producer Mikhail Galkin. In 2017, under Shekhtman's direction, the theater showed the world premiere of "Raskolnikov and the Pawnbroker. A Love Story", by Edward Reznik -- a satire based on ''Crime and Punishment'' by F. Dostoevsky'','' and in 2018, ''Equation with Two Variables (Unknowns),'' after Jean Cocteau and August Strindberg. Lurye, Sharon
"New York theater fills Russian community’s hunger for drama"
, ''

Eurasianet Eurasianet is a news organisation based at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute, the United States, that provides news, information and analysis on countries in Central Asia, the Caucasus region, Russia and Southwest Asia. Launched in 200 ...

'', Jul 10, 2018.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shekhtman, Lev 1951 births Living people American theatre directors Soviet theatre directors American male actors American television hosts American talk radio hosts People from New York (state) Actors from Chernivtsi Jewish theatre directors Jewish American male actors Jewish theatre people Ukrainian SSR emigrants to the United States