Solovtsov, Nikolai

Solovtsov, Nikolai Nikolaevich 

(real surname Fedo-rov). Born May 3 (15), 1857, in Orel; died Jan. 12 (25), 1902, in Kiev. Russian actor, director, and theatrical entrepreneur.

Solovtsov began his work on the stage in Orel in 1875 and subsequently performed in Yaroslavl, Saratov, Orenburg, Kazan, and Nizhny Novgorod. In 1882 and 1883 he appeared at the Aleksandrinskii Theater in St. Petersburg, from 1887 to 1889 at the Korsh Theater, and in 1889 and 1890 at the Abramova Theater in Moscow. In the years 1884–1891 he organized annual actors’ troupes, with which he toured Russia in the spring. In 1891, Solovtsov and a group of actors established the Society of Dramatic Artists, which laid the foundation for a permanent Russian theater in Kiev (see). In 1901 he founded a theatrical enterprise in Odessa. Solovtsov popularized the progressive contemporary repertoire, particularly the plays of Chekhov, as well as the classics.