Burdzhalian, Arshak

Burdzhalian, Arshak Sergeevich 

(also, Arkadii Burdzhalov). Born Dec. 26, 1879 (Jan. 7, 1880), in Astrakhan; died Sept. 4, 1946, in Yerevan. Armenian and Russian actor and stage director; Honored Art Worker of the Armenian SSR (1934).

In 1896, Burdzhalian joined the Society of Art and Literature in Moscow, which was organized by K. S. Stanislavsky. Burdzhalian was actor and stage director of the Letuchaia Mysh’ Theater (1908) and of the Korsh Theater (1913-17) in Moscow. From 1924 to 1927 he was stage director of the First State Theater in Yerevan and from 1941 to 1943 of the A. Mravian Leninakan Theater. Burdzhalian was one of the founders of the A. Spendiarov Armenian Opera and Ballet Theater in Yerevan and chief stage director of the theater from 1933 to 1938. He staged productions that were of great importance for the development of the Armenian theater, including Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid, Gogol’s Inspector General (both in 1923), Demirchian’s TheBrave Nazar (1924), and Sundukian’s Khatabala (1943). Burdzhalian was one of the first to introduce the principles of Stanislavsky’s system into the practice of the Armenian theater.

B. B. ARUTIUNIAN