Adolf Shapiro
Adolf Yakovlevich Shapiro is a Soviet, Latvian and Russian theater director, acting teacher, playwright and author. People's Artist of the Latvian SSR, Merited Master of the Arts of the Russian Federation, Laureate of the State Prize of the Latvian SSR.
Biography
Adolf Shapiro graduated from the Directing Department of the Kharkiv National Kotlyarevsky University of Arts then continued his studies in Moscow at the Maria Knebel's Graduate Laboratory of Directing. Adolf Shapiro was a student and successor of Maria Knebel, who was a student of Konstantin Stanislavsky and Michael Chekhov. Shapiro has earned a worldwide reputation as a preeminent interpreter of Chekhov's work. For more than half a century, Mr. Shapiro has staged highly acclaimed productions across three continents.From 1962 to 1992 he worked in Latvia as the Artistic Director of the Latvian State Theater of Young Spectators, renamed the Youth Theatre in 1989. His most notable works at that time include Ivanov and Wood Demon by Anton Chekhov, City at Dawn by Alexei Arbuzov, The ''Forest by Alexander Ostrovsky, Golden Horse by Jānis Rainis, Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen, The Prince of Homburg by Heinrich Kleist, Fear and Misery of the Third Reich by Bertolt Brecht, Tomorrow There Came War by Boris Vasilyev, Democracy! by Joseph Brodsky. The theater had two buildings and two troupes and was widely known both at home and abroad. The company has won numerous awards at international festivals, including the Grand Prix and Gold Medal at the Theatre on Screen festival in Rome, Italy for the adaptation of The Waltz Invention by Vladimir Nabokov.
Major Russian playwrights wrote plays specially for the theater.
Adolf Shapiro taught acting and directing classes at the Riga Conservatory.
In 1990, Shapiro was elected World President of the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People, and since 1994 he has been President of the Russian Center of ASSITEJ.
Since 1993 Adolph Shapiro has been working as an independent director and theater teacher.
Shapiro has taught and conducted master classes in:
- USA – Harvard University, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Indianapolis, the University of Chicago, Stanislavsky Summer Theater School ;
- Germany – Munich, Berlin, Bad Pyrmont;
- Poland – Warsaw ;
- Israel – Gesher Theater Yiddishpiel Theater
- France – L'École nationale supérieure des arts et techniques du théâtre, Lyon
- Italy – International Festival for Theatre Training Methods METHODIKA
- Brazil – FunArte Theater Company, São Paulo
- China – Shanghai Theater Academy
- Greece – Athens, Delphi, Meteora, Syros Island
In 2007, he was appointed Head of Art Projects at the Bryantsev Youth Theater.
In 2011, he was elected an Honorary Doctor of the Shanghai Theater Academy.
Shapiro has written plays staged in Russia and abroad and is the author of the books Inter-Mission and The Curtain Dropped''.
In March 2014, along with a number of other cultural figures, he expressed his disagreement with the policy of the Russian government in Crimea
Titles and awards
- People's Artist of the Latvian SSR
- Merited Master of the Arts of the Russian Federation – for lifetime achievements and great contribution to the development of Russian culture and art
- Laureate of the State Prize of Latvia
- Laureate of the International Stanislavsky Prize
- Laureate of the Moscow City Hall Literature and Art Prize
- Baltic House Festival Laureate
- Laureate of the Union of Theater Workers of Russia Award Hit of the Season
- 2008 – Grand Prix
- 2015 – Mephisto by Klaus Mann, the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater
- Druzhba Narodov magazine Literary Prize for the best publication of the year
- Order of Pro Terra Mariana for the contribution to the culture of Estonia
- National Theater Award Golden Mask for the Best Opera Production – Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti, The Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre
- Order of Friendship – for the contribution to the development of national culture and art, longstanding fruitful activity
- Order of the Three Stars III degree for the contribution to the culture of the state of Latvia
- Laureate of the Live Theater audience award in the nomination Director: Grand Masters
Selected Theater Productions
Riga
- Twenty Years Later by Mikhail Svetlov
- City at Dawn by Alexei Arbuzov
- Chukokkala by Korney Chukovsky
- A Man Who Looked Like Himself by Zinovy Paperny
- Ivanov by Anton Chekhov
- Golden Horse by Jānis Rainis
- Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen
- Prince of Homburg by Heinrich Kleist
- Winner by Alexei Arbuzov
- Wood Demon by Anton Chekhov
- Torn Cloak by Sem Benelli
- Forest by Alexander Ostrovsky
- Tomorrow There Came War by Boris Vasilyev
- Democracy! by Joseph Brodsky
- Fear and Misery of the Third Reich by Bertolt Brecht
Moscow
- The Cabal of Hyppocrites by Mikhail Bulgakov , revival in 2001
- The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
- The Precipice by Ivan Goncharov
- Mephisto based on the novel Mephistopheles by Klaus Mann
- By the Sea by Viktor Rozov
- Dear Liar by Jerome Kilty
- La Princesse Lointaine ' by Edmond Rostand
- Rock’n’Roll by Tom Stoppard
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Right You Are by Luigi Pirandello
- Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti
- Manon Lescaut by Giacomo Puccini
Samara
St. Petersburg
Estonia
Productions in other countries
The Great Capitulation. The Evening of Bertolt Brecht, 2017
- Poland – A Danish Story based on Hans Christian Andersen’s tales, 1992
- Israel – The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht, 2002
- France – An Actor Prepares by Konstantin Stanislavsky, 2006
- Brazil – Chekhov’s Space based on Anton Chekhov’s plays, 2010
- China – Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, 2013
- Greece – Rose by Martin Sherman, 2011