“Hrachya Ghaplanyan laid such a stone in the foundation of the drama theater on which it is impossible to build something wrong, otherwise everything will simply collapse”, emphasized art-director of the theater Armen Khandikyan at an event organized by the National Library of Armenia on the occasion of Hrachya Ghaplanyan’s 100th anniversary. The entire cast of the Yerevan Drama Theater named after Hrachya Ghaplanyan was present at the National Library. The occasion was the anniversary of Hrachya Ghaplanyan, a famous director, actor, founder of the Yerevan Drama Theater. Advisor to the Director of the National Library of Armenia Nerses Hayrapetyan, welcoming art-director of the theater Armen Khandikyan, director of the theater Artashes Mkhitaryan and actors, noted that libraries are closely connected with theater and theatrical art. Hayrapetyan emphasized that the National Library’s “I-Press” database is often updated with dozens of theater periodicals, including “Tatron” published by Hakob Paronyan and children’s theater magazine “Theatre Friend of Children.”    

Theater actor Robert Harutyunyan was lucky enough to work with Hrachya Ghaplanyan since 1973. “He was such a director that if he walked along the corridor of the theater, then this was already part of the performance, his rehearsals were theater in themselves, his anecdotes were theater, his behavior with us was already theater. And the most amazing thing is that he didn’t even have a theater education, he was accepted into the Gyumri (Lenin) Theater, and then he came to Yerevan,” said the actor. The memories of Kaplanyan’s favorite actress Evelina Shairyan were also touching. “Hrachya Ghaplanyan was a person with great humor, which is why his rehearsals were so interesting”, said the actress, emphasizing that Ghaplanyan was a master of improvisation. “We often knew what part we were playing based on how other actors were playing. Thus, the work was updated and always has been successful”.  

Public interest in theater has declined in recent years. This was confirmed by Armen Khandikyan, comparing current times with Soviet times. “In those years we gave seven performances a week, now only three or four. But the audience began to come again, our theater has nothing to complain about, the average occupancy of the hall is always 90-95 percent”. 

Director of the National Library of Armenia Anna Chulyan, welcoming the guests, expressed hope that cooperation with the drama theater will be expanded, the connection between two cultural institutions will be strengthened, and interesting, high-quality and educational events will be organized for the public. Anna Chulyan emphasized that now, having entered the era of virtual texts, the National Library has made a significant step forward. Guests got acquainted with an exhibition of books about Ghaplanyan, prepared by the art department of the library and posters of the drama theater from different years.