Manon van de Water, member of the ASSITEJ Executive Committee was in Moscow, Russia from October 11-19 to give a lecture on The Life and Work of Natalia Ilinichna Sats, for the Conference of the Association of Musical Theatres at the Moscow State Academic Children’s Musical Theatre named after Natalia Sats, who founded the theatre in 1965..
The theatre celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Natalia Sats pioneered the theatre for children in Russia and received numerous awards for her work, including the USSR State Prize, People’s Artist of the USSR Award, Lenin Prize, Hero of Socialist Labor Medal and the Lenin Komsomol Prize.
Manon also interviewed Natalia Sats’ collaborator and husband at the Theatre, Viktor Petrovich Provorov, for the biography on Natalia Sats’ life and work she is currently working on.
Viktor Petrovich Provorov suffered a heart attack 2 weeks later and died on October 29. A memorial service was held at the Natalia Sats theatre on November 2nd.
Attached a last picture of Provorov in the cabinet of Natalia Sats in front of her portrait, taken by Manon during the interview.
