12 December, marking the 250th anniversary since the birth of Nikolai Karamzin saw the award ceremony of the 3rd International Theatre Festival "History of the Russian State. Homeland and Destinies" in Ulynovsk city. The traditional prize statuette of Clio, The History Muse and Diplomas were conferred on 8 theatre companies from Moscow, St. Petersburg and Berlin, New York, Penza, Novgorod, Sergiyev Posad and Ulyanovsk.
The festival week was opened with  the premiere performance of the Goncharov Ulyanovsk Drama Theater. It was The Captain's Daughter based on the famous novel by Alexander Pushkin. The festival's expert, poet and novelist Marina Knyazeva, handed the Diploma "For Original Embodyment of the Russian Classics" to the hosting theatre.
"This performance is a big event. I gave lectures on Alexander Pushkin in the European countries and faced a paradoxical situation: the Europeans are not familiar with his works. For them Russian literature is limited to the names of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov. The stage production of the Ulyanovsk Theatre is a key that may help Europe discover Alexander Pushkin.
In the final of The Wheel set to poems by Osip Mandelstam, the head of the GOFF-COMPANY (Berlin - St.Petersburg), Gregory Kofman thanked the audience for attention and opennes to the delicate genre of avant-garde one-man show. There were two characters on stage: Osip Mandelstam with his poems, and Music performed by avant-garde musicians, members of the AuktsYon band and the Union of Cosmic Avant-garde. The actors and musicians received the diploma For Popularization of Russian Literature Traditions and History Abroad.
Guests from New York - the STEPS-THEATRE, headed by Slava Stepnov, a former actor of the Ulyanovsk Drama Theatre, contrived to join the unjoinable. The stage play Vasily and Federico is focused on two pillars of the world cinema: Vasily Shukshin and Federico Fellini. It also got the diploma For Popularization of Russian Literature Traditions and History Abroad.
The play Theatre of an Empress staged by the State Academic Maly Theatre of Russia unveiled secrets of a mysterious plot of the Russian history - the origin of pseudo Elizabeth, later known as Princess Tarakanova.
A special place in the festival program belonged to the stage production of the Sergiev Posad Drama Studio "Theater Ark". The play Melody of the Aleutian Islands is based on Anton Chekhov and Lika Mizinova's romantic letters intertwined with fragments of the classic's plays.
On the final day the Dostoevsky Novgorod Academic Theatre performed its play Karamzin. Portrait of Heart and Soul dedicated to the great Russian historiographer and educator.
"Theatre Festival "History of the Russian State. Homeland and Destinies" is developing and growing. Its distinctive feature is the interest in local history. Recently theatres have been turning to the heritage of their land, to the historical memory more and more"- the organizers point out.