The project’s founder and member of the organizing committee Svetlana Sokolova told Sputnik that 13 theater companies from the United States and Canada will participate in the festival this year, while five other theaters will perform outside the competition.
"We hope that the festival will be a holiday of unity," Sokolova said. "It is especially important now, when the relations between Russia and the United States are so complex."
Sokolova noted that the jury will include famous choreographer from Georgia Irina Tsukarashvili.
"Ukrainian theaters from Canada and a Lithuanian company have arrived in Washington to take part in the event," she added. "We will have representatives of many nationalities."
"Before bringing the play to us, it is performed to the local audience, and then they present a well-practiced production to us. This is very encouraging. The quality of performances is improving every year," she explained.
Renowned Russian theater director Oleg Golub, who heads the jury for the fifth time, told Sputnik that he was looking forward to both meeting new and regular participants.
"We have new theaters that will be performing for the first time. Of course, I want to get to know them and their work," Golub stated. "Meetings with regular participants feel like meetings with old friends. I would like to see how the companies grew and the directors progressed over the past year. It is very interesting."
Golub pointed out that the festival is developing at a gigantic pace.
"The level of the organization is growing as well as the level of participants and their attitude to the festival. And of course, the quality of performances is improving, and many of them can already be shown at adult festivals," he said.
The opening of the show this year is timed to coincide with the traditional Pushkin Ball, which will be also held at the Russian embassy. At the costume ball, the guests will be received by Alexander Pushkin, Peter the Great, Arina Rodionovna, and characters from Pushkin's fairy tales.
A series of round tables and master classes will be held at the embassy and at the Russian Cultural Center in Washington within the framework of the festival. There will also be an exhibition dedicated to Pushkin.
The festival’s theatre performances will take place at the Greenberg Theater at the American University in Washington.
