# Azerbaijan State Theatre of Young Spectators

Azerbaijan State Theater of Young Spectators (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Dövlət Gənc Tamaşaçılar Teatrı) is a theatre located in the centre of Baku, Azerbaijan.

## History of the theater

Azerbaijan State Theater of Young Spectators (ASTYS) was founded in 1928 as Baku Children’s Theater according to the Decision of the Commissariat of Public Enlightenment of Azerbaijan dated September 20, 1928. The initial group of actors and directors of the theatre included Aghadadash Gurbanov, Mammadagha Dadashov, Yusif Eminli, Mina Abdullayeva, Yusif Dadashov, Susanna Majidova, Javahir Isgandarova, Suleyman Alasgarov, Huseynagha Sadikhov, Karim Hasanov, Zafar Nematov, Maharram Hashimov, and Alimammad Atayev.
The Russian section of the theater started its activity on November 6, 1928 when a Russian troupe made a performance of the play “Five people” by N.Smirnov and S.Serbakov here for the first time. An Azerbaijani troupe, created on the basis of drama circle of pioneers affiliated with the Baku Club of Sailors became a member of this theatre, in 1930.
Azerbaijani section started on January 30, 1930 with “Against Red tie" by N.Ivanter.
In the first years of its existence, the theatre staged plays of Russian writers, which were constituted the repertoire of Young Spectators' Theatres of other cities of the USSR. In the 1930s, plays of Azerbaijani dramatists were included in the repertoire of the theatre: In the streets by Jafarov and Melik-Yeganov (1932), Nargiz (1936), Ayaz (1937), Gizil Gush (Golden bird) by Seyidzade (1938), and Mammad the Partisan by Isgandarov and Sabit Rahman (1939).
In 1936, the theater was named after Maxim Gorky.
Baku Children’s Theater was renamed based on the order of the Commissariat of Public Enlightenment of Azerbaijan on July 18, 1936, and has been called “Azerbaijan State Theater of Young Spectators” since then. The ASTYS was awarded with the Republic Lenin Komsomol Prize Laureate in 1978 and the Order of Honor in 1979.
Azerbaijan State Youth Theater and Baku Camera Theater were united to ASTYS according to the decisions of Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan dated respectively on March 19 and September 30 in 2009.
Children's and Youth Theaters of Azerbaijan State Theater of Young Spectators became member of the International Association of Theater for Children and Young People (ASSITEJ) in May 2011 and the national center of ASSITEJ was opened in Azerbaijan after a while.
The small stage of the Theater considered for mono and small volume plays was inaugurated in December 2013.

## Festivals

The ASTYS's troupe has been attending international theatre festivals since 2006:
| Events | Date | Location | Performance |
| Gala concert of the 2nd International Theatre Festival | December 2006 | Podolsk city of Moscow Oblast, Russia | Fragments from "Arshin mal Alan" operetta by Uzeyir Hajibeyov |
| International April 23 Children's Festival | April 2007 | Alanya, Turkey | "Good and Evil" by Nizami Ganjavi, "Mother Goose" by Rasul Rza and "Play and dance" by Iskandar Joshgun |
| International April 23 Children's Festival | April 2008 | Ankara and Ighdir, Turkey | "Grandma’s trick" by Ahmad Oruj |
| 9th International Theater Festival of Turkic-speaking countries | May–June 2009 | Kazan, Russia | "Pary jadu" by Abdurrahim bey Hagverdiyev |
| 12th International Festival of Antique Art | June 2010 | Simferopol | "Aesop" by Guilherme Figueredo |
| 32nd International Festival "Fajr" | February 2011 | Qurqan, Iran | "Othello" by William Shakespeare |
| 2nd International ArtOkraina mono and small-scale festival of performances | November 2011 | Saint Petersburg | "Contrabass" by Patrick Süskind |
| 5th Monodrama International Theater Festival | January 2012 | Al-Fujairah Emirate, UAE | "At last..." by Peter Turrini |
| 33rd International Festival "Fajr" | February 2012 | Iran | "Don Raffaele il trombone" by Peppino De Filippo |
| 17th International "Belaya Veja" theater festival | September 2012 | Brest, Belarus | "Don Raffaele il trombone" by Peppino De Filippo |
| Colombo International Mono-spectacles Festival | March–April 2013 | Sri-Lanka | "Contrabass" by Patrick Süskind |
| 1st Sheki International Theater Festival | September 2014 | Sheki, Azerbaijan | "I came, Girls" ("War") by Lars Noren |
| 19th "Belaya Veja" ("White Castle") International Theater Festival | September 2014 | Brest, Belarus | "Without words" by Samuel Beckett |
| 1st International Martin McDonagh Festival | October 2014 | Perm, Russia | "The Lonesome West" - part of Leenane trilogy by Martin McDonagh |
| 17th Black Sea International Theater Festival | April–May 2016 | Trabzon, Turkey | "Old Clown" by Matei Vișniec |
| 21st International Youth Theater Festival "Russian Classics" | May | Lobnya city of Moscow Oblast, Russia | "Diary of a Madman" by Nikolai Gogol |
| 8th International Theater Festival "Gostniy Dvor" | May–June | Orenburgh, Russia | "I came, Girls" ("War") by Lars Noren |
| 2nd International Martin McDonagh Festival | October 2016 | Perm, Russia | "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" by Martin McDonagh |
| 11th International Mono-spectacles Festival "Atspindys" | October | Vilnius and Visaginas, Lithuania | "Without words" by Samuel Beckett |
| 3rd International Theater Festival "Hot Heart" | April 2017 | Kineshma, Ivanovo Oblast, Russia | "Diary of a Madman" by Nikolai Gogol |
| 14th International Folks Art Festival "Friendship Wreath" | June–July 2017 | Bobruysk, Mogilev Oblast, Belarus | "Contrabass" by Patrick Süskind |
| 6th International Festival "Tuganlig" of Turkic speaking theaters | September 2017 | Ufa, Russia | "Punishment" by Tamara Valiyeva |
| 1st International Theater Festival "Keyeda" for children and youth | September–October 2017 | Elista, Russia | "Tik-tik khanim" by Abdulla Shaig |
| "Maria" International Mono-Performances Festival | October 2017 | Kyiv, Ukraine | "Contrabass" by Patrick Süskind |
| 36th International Theater Festival "Fajr" | January 2018 | Tehran, Iran | "Punishment" by Tamara Valiyeva |
| 8th International Theater Olympics | March 2018 | India | "Punishment" by Tamara Valiyeva |

## Repertoire

ASTYS’s repertoire includes plays of foreign (William Shakespeare, Martin McDonagh, Hans Christian Andersen, Aleksey Tolstoy) and domestic playwrights, such as Huseyn Javid, Jafar Jabbarli, Mirza Fatali Akhundzada, Ilyas Afandiyev, Suleyman Rustam, Abdurrahim bey Hagverdiyev, Abdulla Shaig, Nizami Ganjavi, Suleyman Sani Akhundov for both adults and schoolchildren.
Classical drama plays of Russian and foreign dramatists, plays of the Soviet writers and dramatists were also staged on the theater, such as The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol, Servant of Two Masters by William Shakespeare, and How the Steel Was Tempered by Nikolai Ostrovsky.

## Projects

* "The theater, education and morality";
* "We love the theater";
* "The first student card, the joy of the first acquaintance with the theater";
* "The personalities in the Heights";
* "Martyrs are immortal, homeland is indivisible";
* "I want to talk about theater".

## Theatre personnel

Managing director of the ASTYS is Naida Ismayilzada. Bahram Osmanov is the chief director of the theatre.

### Actors

Yasin Garayev, Aghakhan Salmanli, Almaz Mustafayeva, Atabala Safarov, Naiba Allahverdiyeva, Gurban Ismayilov and others.