Organizational-pedagogical, scientific-research and theatrical-critical activity of A. V. Pletniov through the prism of time
Authors: Botunova, H.Ya. 
Published: June 2019

The article deals with the main aspects of organizational-pedagogical, scientific- research and theatrical-critical activity of the candidate of art studies A. V. Pletniov. Little-known biographical data on the life of the theater scientist and the creative environment, in which his professional formation took place, are presented. It is noted that A. V. Pletniov was one of the first graduates of the State Institute of Theatrical Arts named after A. V. Lunacharsky (now – RUTM). He studied there in 1934–1938, surrounded by highly-qualified students, many of whom subsequently became the pride of Russian theater studies. A. V. Pletniov entered the history of the theatrical culture of Kharkiv as a talented scientist-researcher, a well-known theater critic and teacher. He stood at the origins of theater studies in Kharkiv and for almost 30 years he headed the department of the History of the Theater (now – the Department of Theater Studies) of the higher theater educational institution in the city. However, the value of his activity is much wider. The formation of the Kharkiv State Theater Institute is closely linked with the personality of A. V. Pletniov, since 1963 he wax also connected with the theater department of the Kharkiv Institute of Arts named after I. P. Kotliarevsky, and in general – with the theatrical culture of our city. However, until this time his organizational-pedagogical, scientific-research, and theatrical-critical heritage has not been properly investigated and objectively not covered. The purpose of the research is to analyze the organizational, pedagogical, scientific, research and theatrical-critical activity of A. V. Pletniov, writing it into the socio-political and artistic context of time and, at the same time, into the history of theater studies of Ukraine. A. V. Pletniov started his pedagogical activity in 1938 at the Kharkiv Theater School as a teacher of the history of the theater and the head of the educational department. With the beginning of the war, the school, which merged with the Kyiv State Theater Institute, was evacuated to the city Saratov, where A. Pletniov as a teacher worked until January 1942. From this time until the end of the war he was on the front in the field force. In 1945 he returned to the newly founded Kharkiv State Theater Institute and was immediately appointed Deputy Director of Educational and Scientific Work and a senior lecturer at the Department of History of the Theater. Together with the director of the institute Z. Smoktiy, A. Pletniov was making considerable efforts to organize the educational process in the time of economic trouble, lack of staff with the corresponding education, and provided basic conditions of work and education in the newly created higher education. Existing and new departments were supplemented and opened, the prominent artists from Kharkiv theaters and leading scientists from other universities were invited to work. Among them: D. Antonovych, O. Serdiuk, M. Krushelnytsky, O. Kramov, L. Dubovyk, V. Chystiakova and others. The peculiarity of the organization of research and methodological work was its focus on providing educational process. Several comprehensive topics on the methodology of actor education, stage language teaching, encyclopedic dictionary of theatrical terms, and a study on the history of theater development in Kharkiv were planned. It was at that time that several dissertations were planned, including A. Pletniov’s “Kharkiv Theater of the Second Quarter of the 19th Century”, which he successfully presented in 1952 in his alma mater – State Institute of Theater Art after A. V. Lunacharsky, and he was awarded a degree Doctor of Arts. In 1960, the completed dissertation study was published in the form of a monograph titled “At the Origins of the Kharkiv Theater”, which until now has not lost its relevance and is actively used in the educational process. In 1947, while being the Deputy Director of the Institute, A. Pletniov also headed the Department of Theater History. It was with him as the head of the department, the actual renewal of the department as a theatrical research center and methodological center began, it largely determined the main directions of its activities for the future. Under the direction of A. V. Pletniov, the department trained a lot of talented theatrical scholars who successfully worked and work as teachers of higher educational institutions, heads of literary units of creative groups, heads of leading theaters, heads of cultural management, members of mass media staff, well-known theatrical critics. A. Pletniov headed the department for almost 30 years – until 1976 (with a brief break in 1961–1962), giving a significant impetus to the development of theater studies in Kharkiv, in particular, theatrical criticism. He himself was actively involved in the illumination of the theatrical process in Kharkiv, leaving after himself dozens of highly professional reviews, articles, notes, sometimes controversial, bearing the imprint of time. The article emphasizes that A. Pletniov was one of the most skilled and highly educated teachers. He taught a whole range of theater studies disciplines: the history of Russian theater, the history of foreign theater, the theory of drama, theatrical criticism. Until the last years of his life, A. Pletniov conducted active scientific research, methodological, theatrical-critical and public activity. In 1968–1972, he was the Vice-Rector of the Kharkiv State Institute of Arts named after I. P. Kotliarevsky for the scientific work and theatrical department. In 1975, he finished a doctoral dissertation “From the History of the Establishment of the Soviet Theater in Ukraine”, in which he for the first time thoroughly recreated the extremely complex and multifaceted theatric life of Kharkov in the October decade (1917–1927) in the socio-cultural context, but he did not have time to defense this study. Nowadays this scientific work is striking by its multidimensional and enormous amount of material. Conclusions. As a result of the research was established that with A. Pletniov personality as a well-known teacher, a scientist and theater critic, one of the leaders of the Kharkiv Theater Institute (1945–1953), later the Kharkiv Institute of Arts named after I. P. Kotliarevsky, more than thirty years of theater education in Kharkiv were connected. Particularly remarcable the role of A. Pletniov was in the development of theater studies and theater education in such a significant theatrical center as Kharkiv, where he nearly thirty years was heading the specialized department of the history of theater (now the department of theater studies). It was under his leadership that a methodology for preparing theatrical scholars of a broad profile was formed, based on a high level of general culture and education of future specialists, on the possession of a wide spectrum of theatrical research tools. Despite some contradictions inherent in A. Pletniov’s scientific and theatrical- critical activity and reflected in his heritage, that was typical for most scholars of the humanitarian sphere of the 1930–1970s, he remains one of the decisive figures in the development of theater education and theater researches in Kharkiv. All the above motivates for a further, more profound study of the scientific-pedagogical and theatrical-critical activity of A. Pletniov and, more broadly, the development of theater studies in Kharkiv.