Over the past five years, the Armenian State Drama Theater of Tbilisi, which is the only state Armenian theater outside of Armenia, has been functioning on so-called wheels. The building is on the brink of collapse and doesn’t receive audiences, but the plays, performances and tours continue.

Artistic director of the Theater Armen Bayanduryan assures that the Theater will open its doors to theater lovers in a new building and with new plays by the end of this year.

“The Georgian Ministry of Culture has allocated 65,000 Laris for fortification of the building. Currently, experts are trying to find out why water is often piled up in the basement and whether that might happen again in the future or not. After that, we will have a new project, and rehearsals will begin in April.”

The building, dressing rooms and the vestibule of the Theater will be fortified.

“Alongside the fortification, we also expect the government of Armenia to solve the issue on updating and rearming the light and sound systems. The President has promised, and we will address the President with that issue,” Armen Bayanduryan said in an interview with Radiolur.

This year, the Theater will also celebrate the launch of its 160^th season with grand splendor. Over the past five years, with more than 100 plays, the actors of the Theater performed at various theaters of Tbilisi, as well as in different regions of Georgia and in Armenia. The Theater had nearly 30 premieres, but the audiences don’t know about them.

All the tours for this year are dedicated to the Theater’s 160^th anniversary. In the summer, the Armenian theater will participate in the Nodar Dumbadze Performing Arts Festival with the play “Accusatory Conclusion”, which is based on Dumbadze’s homonymous play.

“We decided to perform in Georgian. There has not been such a case in the history of the Theater. We will prepare the Armenian version of the play.”

The artistic director of the Armenian theater of Tbilisi is certain that the actors of the theater will have more spirit to create after renovation.

“Let the audience wait a little longer. By reopening the Theater, we want to have spectators who will always attend our performances.”