🇪🇺 TEEN European Digital Community: London Plane from Rostov-on-Don, Russia

London Plane

I started working at the theatre and playing children’s roles when I was just seven. Since then, I’ve tried practically every theatre studio in my city and participated in several wonderful international projects. Some of the projects that really impacted me were IPAY Culture Crew Festival, Europefiction and (Re)defining Equality. To me, theatre means community, diversity, and a way to bring something you believe in into the world. Music is also a big part of my life – I play the drums and the guitar, sing, write songs and poetry a little. I enjoy walks around the city, hiking and yoga. The topics I value and want to address in my art are equality and equity, gender and sexuality, anti-racism and environmental justice. I believe that theatre has the power to bring together very different people from all over the world. Through many experiences I have realized that I want to be and work in an international environment; just living in another culture is nothing compared to the extensive exchange, the vibrancy and the constant movement you get in such projects.

The soil / the need

I have a theatre family – my dad is a theatre director and my mum organizes international theatre projects, so more or less theatre has always been in my life and I am incredibly grateful for that! As a child I was very performative and expressive, each time guests came to our house, me and my younger sister would literally organize dance and theatre shows in the kitchen, it is so fun to look at the photos today. At the age of 7 I started playing children’s parts in the Rostov-on-Don Academic Youth Theatre, at 9 I have visited my first international theatre festival in Finland (Hurraa!) and participated as a children’s jury member. From the very beginning I could feel that theatre and acting create a magical connection between performers and audience members, encourage us to think and find our own meanings. I had always been left drained but at the same time satisfied and fulfilled with a special kind of energy after a played show, and just like back then I’m still longing for this feeling today.

The first seed

A parent / Family.

Tell us about that first spark

Theatre has always been important to me, but I have a very specific memory. In 2023 I have participated in an international project called Europefiction in Dortmund. And when I was reading my original text “The Body’s journey through Digitality” during our performance in front of the audience from different parts of the world and on a stage of a German theatre, I couldn’t believe I would experience something like this just at the age of 15 thanks to theatre and its community. The environment of the project has also impressed me, it was one of the most accepting and inclusive spaces I’ve been to at the time. Though I was the youngest one and from Russia, I’ve never felt excluded or not listened to. It was a place where there was no racism, ageism, homophobia. Europefiction gave me an impression of how real democracy looks like and how theatre and art can shape it. This kind of experimental environments are basically an ideal concentration of these values, however in real life it is much more difficult to ensure against bias and prejudice, even in developed countries, but after this experience I’ve realized that with the help of theatre this ideal space can grow into something bigger and spread.

Roots (people & experiences that shaped your path)

My parents have opened the world of theatre to me and they will always be the most important people on this journey. But I’m also very grateful to my Drama Club director, Dmitry Korolev, with whom we created performances in English, learned about good cinema and sang. Two other valuable people are Valentin and Katerina Kiselevy, tutors of the MUHA studio: with them I’ve learned about object theatre, the importance of co-creation and involvement of actors into the process.

The theatre where my dad works holds a lot of warm memories, I remember running up and down on the long red carpet between the rows, playing with actors, participating in workshops and watching performances of our international festival Minifest in 2018.

I am so glad to have found ForesTEEN last year! It is the only international theatre community I have at the moment and I am enjoying every meeting, I absolutely admire how young people and theatre professionals gather and create something meaningful engaging with different topics, share and listen, support each other. Opportunities for people from Russia are limited right now and I am happy to be part of such a wonderful network!

The trunk (what keeps you in theatre)

I’ve never had to push myself to do theatre, I have known for a long time that this is something I want to connect my life with. On the contrary, it was difficult when I couldn’t do theatre or didn’t have the time for it. Different from the other art forms theatre allows an energetic emotional experience in the very moment of the performance – it doesn’t have a mediator or a border between the artist and the audience, and I really value the human connection that arises through theatrical means.

Branches (future / desire)

The “main character” role! I want to study theatre direction or light design, that’s why I’m actively looking for university programs in those fields for the near future. I would like to work at the intersection of performing arts, music, visual arts and light, activism and social challenges. I think theatre is a unique mixture of many other art forms and the freedom to combine them or make up something completely new. In the last four years it has become a safe and practically the only way to speak and reflect on heavy social topics (like war, queerness, repressions), and I hope it will remain this space for me. My vision of theatre and life in general will surely change as I grow and I am also curious how this will be reflected in my art.

Are you currently involved in cultural activities?

Yes, regularly

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? Why?

My friend has once sent me a picture of a very beautiful tree while she was on her vacation in Sochi. I liked how complicated but at the same time sincere and spiritual it looked. And perhaps that would be my choice. I’ve looked up how it’s called for the application – the London Plane. My friend is also a wonderful photographer, and I might not have noticed this tree without her artistic view, that’s why it also associates with a person close to me.