Kama Ginkas
Born to a Jewish family, Ginkas was a student of Georgy Tovstonogov, Ginkas has collaborated with most major theatres in Moscow and St. Petersburg, including the Moscow Art Theatre ("The Train Car" and "The Toastmaster"), the Moscow New Generation Theatre (МТЮЗ) ("We Play Crime" - based on Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment", "The Execution of the Decembrists", Anton Chekhov's "The Black Monk" and "Lady with a Lapdog", and "Rothschild's Fiddle".) His productions have traveled to festivals in Germany, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Bosnia, Brazil, United States, Poland, Croatia, the Netherlands, the former Yugoslavia, and France. His adaptations  of Chekhov's stories are visually stunning and unique in form, and have earned him the highest honors in Russia and at festivals throughout the world. In the summer of 2003, he made his American debut with his "K.I. from Crime" at the Bard SummerScape Festival. His English-language adaptation of the award-winning "Lady with a Lapdog" marked his American English-language premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Over the past ten years Ginkas has directed a number of productions in Europe, including "The Idiot" in Germany and "Macbeth" in Finland. He has taught in the  Swedish Theatre Academy in Helsinki and teaches directing at the Moscow Art Theatre School. His wife Genrietta Yanovskaya also famous theatre director - Director of Moscow TUZ (Teatr Unogo Zritelya - New Generation Theater).