Overview

The Moscow Art Theater (MKhAT) was founded in 1898 by two outstanding personalities and indisputable gurus of Russia's dramatic art, Konstantin Stanislavskii and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. It quickly won Muscovites hearts with its performances. Originally the co-founders were using the premises of the theater located in the Hermitage Garden in Karetnyi Riad Street. The theater opened with Alexei Tolstoi's Tsar Fedor Ioannovich. Soon after, it was decided to move to the present day location. The theater's repertoire includes works by Maksim Gorky, Leonid Andreyev, Leo Tolstoi, Maurice Maeterlinck and Gerhart Hauptmann among others. It is well known for political and social satire, as well as comedy and fantasy. As a result of certain artistic and managerial disputes in the early 1990s the company was divided into two MKHAT theaters. Thus, there is both the A. Chekhov Art Theater and M. Gorky Art Theater.