Hakob Ghazanchyan, the president of the Union of Theater Workers of Armenia, who was present at the opening of the 158th theater season of Gyumri Drama Theater last night, expressed the opinion that the doors of all theaters should be opened, we have to look forward.
“These are tough days; recently, many theaters postponed their performances. However, everyone came to the conviction that they should start playing. There is a reason for that: we have to look ahead. It is possible not to play for a month or two months, but I don’t think anything will be changed; we have to play, work, and look at our tomorrow. Let me tell you, not playing was more related to the moods of the actors, the people who have to go on stage, especially our theater, the theater of musical comedy named after Hakob Paronyan, and there was no heart to play comedy. We didn’t have the heart to play happy music; in that sense, we also went ahead of our creative team’s mood. Still, we have to work; we have to play. I am here today with great love for my favorite theater, where I worked for 5.5 years and my father worked for six years. I am happy to be in a city where I graduated from the best school in the world, the “Gymnasium” to which I owe everything.”
Hakob Ghazanchyan remembered the post-earthquake years when he tried to heal people in grief through theater. “After the earthquake, I headed the Vardan Achemyan Theater in Gyumri, and when we had to perform the first performance, there were different opinions in the artistic council. Of course, there were opinions that it was too early to start, and there were opinions that we should do a play on the theme of the earthquake, but I was categorically against such opinions, and we decided to do a colorful, luxurious musical comedy “Love’s Vain Efforts” by Shakespeare.
We ordered wonderful music from Ruben Hakhverdyan; wonderful decoration was done by Grisha Sahakyan, from Gyumri by birth. After the performance, I was very anxious because it was only a year after the earthquake, and people came into my office with tears, thanking me for the performance. Of course, we must live; we must live for the sake of our children, whom we have no right to raise in mourning. It’s a big stress; it stays with them and prevents them from living for the rest of their lives,” Hakob Ghazanchyan said.
Nune AREVSHATYAN
