Drama Club

The Russian Drama Studio at the New Russia Cultural Center was established in 2013 with theatrical performances for children for “Morozko” and “Microscope” for adult audiences. Yuri Naumkin became an artistic director of the Russian Drama Studio in 2014.  His artistic direction and artistic talent brought production success to two other plays.  One of them,“Tale of Tsar Saltan”, is a one-act play based on the poem by Alexander Pushkin, and performed for a children’s audience in December 2014 at the Mohawk Golf Club, Schenectady, NY. Second, was a musical/theatrical performance, “Victory Day”, devoted to the celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of World War II, and performed in May 2015 at Union College, Schenectady, NY. Both plays had local media coverage with photos in the Times Union, Daily Gazette, and other local newspapers.   In Fall 2015 Yuri was directing another play for children, the “New Year Tricks of Baba Yaga”. In 2016 he directed a bilingual play "Love and Doves" for general public. In 2017 "New Year MIracles" shown for children during an Annual Yolka Celebration. The 2018 production 'Morozko" had 2 premieres on January 5th and 6th 2019.  Yuri Naumkin took the performances of the Russian Drama Studio to a new artistic level thanks to his high professionalism and artistic talent.

 

Artistic Director - Yuri Naumkin, a native of Moscow, graduated from the Lunacharsky State University of Theater Arts (GITIS).  For six years at the Moscow Lenkom Theater he performed leading roles in the productions including “The Rise and Fall of Joaquin Murrieta”, “The Thief “and “Juno and Avos”. In 1990, after finishing the Lenkom Theater tour in New York, he resigned and at the age of 29 began a “new life” in the US. Yuri Naumkin's American theater debut began quite successfully, with the lead role in Martin Sherman’s play When She Danced at the Philadelphia Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. This work opened the way for the artist to the American Scene Actors Association (AEA). This was followed by work in the Russian-American musical theater "Wandering Stars" under the artistic direction of the composer Alexander Zhurbin. In this theater, the talent of Yuri Naumkin manifested not only as a leading actor, who played the main roles in the performances of “Moldavanka-Zakat” (Benya Creek), “Poor Lisa” (Erast), “Isadora and Sergey” (Yesenin), but also in as a production director who worked hand in hand with such directors as Mark Rozovsky, Arnold Shvetsov and others.The Hermitage Heritage Association invites him to stage the play “Mayakovsky in America” at the New York Rocket Club and play the role of Vladimir Mayakovsky in it. Yuri Naumkin became an artistic director of the Russian Drama Studio in 2014.  His artistic direction and artistic talent brought production success to four plays performed by the Russian Drama Studio.