The staff of Mikhail Chekhov Riga Russian Theatre is following the events on the territory of Ukraine with a heavy heart. Many of us have already donated money to help the suffering civilians. In addition, the employees of the Theatre have volunteered, if necessary:

– to pick up refugees at the Ukrainian border and to bring them to Latvia by private transport;

– to provide shelter for families;

– to donate clothes, shoes, medicines, toys, food.

For its part, the Theater is ready to provide its apartment, where visiting staging directors and designers usually stay, to help the refugees get from the border of Ukraine to anywhere in Latvia as well as to offer jobs – to actors, dressers, make-up experts, stage hands, ushers, clock-room attendants.

NB! To everyone, who is willing and able to support the victims of this war! And to the people of Ukraine, looking for help! A special coordination platform has been created to make all the processes as efficient as possible: https://www.ukraine-latvia.com/

No matter how bitterly painful it is to talk about this, the moment has come, when culture, in principle, cannot be separated from politics. Mikhail Chekhov Theatre has been closely cooperating with Russia for more than a hundred years: we have been working with playwrights, translators, staging directors, designers, actors from Russia – and we are ready to continue doing so, but in the light of what is happening, creative cooperation with citizens of Russia is possible for us, only if they do not support military aggression on the part of Russia and are ready to state this. If our views on this crisis do not coincide, we will definitely not be able to create anything together.

We wholeheartedly hope for a speedy cessation of hostilities! Peace to Ukraine! Peace to all of us!