page_title: Eighth Creative Union of MEPhI
section_title: History of the ECU
hierarchical_section_title: Eighth Creative Union of MEPhI / History of the ECU
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Легендарный спектакль ВТО МИФИ 1974 года "Нам оставаться!"
context_page_description: The Eighth Creative Union of Moscow Engineering Physics Institute is a creative and interdisciplinary team unifying students, graduates, postgraduate students and the university lecturers and professors. The ECU implies a variety of activities including a student theatre of pop sketches, arrangement of concerts and performances, scriptwriting, arrangement of night entertainment events and conventions, issuing of wall newspapers along with prose, poetry and playwriting almanacs, participating in Singer-Songwriter Club and Club of the Funny and Inventive People and Sharp-witted activities and taking part in different shows and competitions.
context_section_description: The Union was founded at Physics and Power Engineering Faculty of Moscow National Research Nuclear University MEPhI in accordance with the Faculty Komsomol (Young Communist League) Committee decree. Its stage debut was on 13 December 1969. That particular day is considered to be the official date of the ECU foundation. Its first President was Oleg Yurievich Fyodorov, a former captain of 1962 Institute CCS (Club of the Cheerful and Sharp-witted. Russian: Клуб Веселых и Находчивых) team. Nikolay Artemyev, Mel’ko Khutsiev and Vladimir Chekhonadskiy triarchy was in charge of scriptwriting, arrangement of rehearsals and managerial issues. The Union management had been traditionally conducted by three students since then.
  An oak tree and a woodpecker, a forest guard, are portrayed in the ECU insignia. The woodpecker symbolizes satire defeating the blood-suckers eaten into the country's body.
  In 1974, the Faculty Komsomol Committee insisted on electing the only person as the head of the ECU and Valeriy Shambarov became as the President. He was in charge of solving the ECU managerial issues and his responsibilities did not cover art direction.  Nikolay Artemyev, Vladimir Chekhnadskiy, Alexander Razumov, Valeriy Shambarov, Sergey Struev, Alexander Selin, Andrey Troitskiy and others were theatre directors at different time periods of the Union history.
  The ECU activity is of a selfless character which is the reason for its success and steady demand for the Union throughout its long period of existence. The ECU activities cover all the available areas of its creative work starting from arrangement of social and outreach activities up to the student's theatre which is involved in not only pop sketches but in far more serious and large-scale performances staging as well.
  Theatre of Social Horror project was launched in 1988 and lasted until 1991 as a part of the ECU activities. The MEPhI amateur actors and actresses showed their theatricals in different cities and towns, took part in Sem’ Ya Festival of Independent Theatres in Saint Petersburg and in the First All-Soviet Union festival of Club of the Cheerful and Sharp-witted Teams in Dnepropetrovsk. Alexander Selin, an excellent actor and a talented writer who wrote several plays, was the Manager of Theatre of Social Horror.
  The ECU history can be divided into four time periods.
  1969 – 1984 It is the time of traditions establishing and development. It is the time of large-scale theatrical productions both by amateur authors (M. Khutsiev, V. Shambarov, A. Selin) and by professional playwrights (Felix Krivin, Evgeny Schwartz, D. Al).
  1985 – 1997 Several creative individuals were making attempts of developing their creative work in a professional environment. For instance, V. Shambarov was involved in social and political journalism, A. Selin was working in television, writing scripts for TV programmes and commercials and was cooperating with CCS (Club of the Cheerful and Sharp-witted) TV programme. S. Struev started his film director's career and A. Semyonov became a poet and his poetry had been the basis of Vezhlivyi Otkaz (the Polite Refusal; Russian: "Вежливый отказ") rock-group creative development. The ECU existed as parallel activities of several small creative groups.
  1998 – 2002 By M. Khutsiev, A. Selin, N. Turchaninov and Ch. Kaitukov's efforts the ECU were focused on taking part in CCS (Club of the Cheerful and Sharp-witted) team competitions. Inter-faculty competitions had been arranged, the university team had taken part in regional league competitions and Vizit team had qualified to the Major League of KVN.
  2003 – present. The ECU have been working within the framework of traditional student theater of pop sketches (STPS) format. Their theatricals include short short stories, parodies and sketches. Performances are almost not staged.
caption: The legendary performance in 1974 "We stay!"
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