Viktoras Golovčineris

He was born on June 28, 1905 in Minsk into a teachers' family. In 1921-1926 he studied at the Belarusian opera and drama studio in Moscow. In 1938-1949 he taught at the art school in Minsk. From 1934 he was a member of the Soviet Writers' Union. He acted in and directed many Belarusian theatres until 1949, when he was accused of staging 'nationalistic' and 'cosmopolitan' plays. In 1949-1953 he was a theatre director in Irkutsk, and in 1953-1954 in the Tashkent Russian Drama Theatre. In 1949-1955 he taught at the Tashkent Institute of Theatre Arts. In 1955-1961 he taught in the Conservatory of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic and was also a director of the Russian Theatre in Vilnius. He directed many plays which became very popular and well-known in Lithuania, and consequently many of his actors were often invited to play in other towns in the USSR. He died on July 15, 1961 in Vitebsk.