ABSTRACT
Dmitry Krymov, certainly one of the most renowned directors on the global stage, was born in Moscow in 1954 to theatre royalty: director Anatoly Efros and critic Natalia Krymova. But Krymov did not start out as a director. After graduating from the scenography department of the Moscow Art Theatre School, he became a much in-demand stage designer, creating eighty productions, a dozen of which were made with his renowned, if often politically hounded, father (see Chapter 6). After his father’s death, Krymov left stage designing and began a notable career as a painter. But after many years he came into directing on a “dare” and almost simultaneously was offered a job teaching design at GITIS. There he began having the students make small performance pieces with their own DIY designs as central components. This led to the formation of the Krymov Laboratory, which became the entity creating and producing thirty-four productions, now rehearsing in New York – his adopted home since the Ukraine invasion. The chapter contains quick profiles of many of Krymov’s legendary productions, discusses his rehearsals and classes, how he came late to Stanislavsky, and his painful departure from his homeland.
