St. Petersburg Theater Company to Create Second Performance Space
A leading St. Petersburg theater company is turning a gift from President Putin into a performance space. The Bolshoi Drama Theater has unveiled a $35.6 million redevelopment plan for the former Letny Kamennoostrovsky Theater . The unique 19th century building located
On Kamenny Island was presented to the theater company in October of 2005 by the president.
The renovation will provide for a second performance space for the company which will create more opportunities for St. Petersburg men to take out beautiful St. Petersburg women who are fans of the arts.
The renovation will try to recreate the 1844 theater design and will have 392 seats. The original technical drawings are not available so the interiors may not be 100 percent accurate, but by using inventory lists, the recreation will be as close as possible.
Another challenge in the renovation process was the fact that the 1,200 square meter theater would not be able to hold modern theater equipment and other infrastructural materials. The designers have gotten around those issues by creating a large underground area that doubles the space available.
The theater is expected to be ready by December 2008. Some have speculated that once the renovations are complete, the theater company will move in and make it their permanent home, but the spokesperson for the troupe would neither confirm nor deny that.
