Anastazja Charitonowa

I want to use the residency as an opportunity to rest after almost a year of precarious work on a show that will premiere in June this year. It has been a difficult period in which I have juggled two jobs to support myself. I also want to use the residency to work on my professional development plan for future work in Poland and my studies, which I would like to continue. I also want to improve my Polish and English and get the formalities sorted out for which I have not had enough time and resources. I also look forward to the benefits of collaborating with other residents.

I am a cultural producer, theatre producer and educator. I am researching the relationship between theatre and museum. I graduated from the Academy of Theatre Arts in Saint Petersburg in the Department of Theatre Production. I started my doctoral studies in Theatre Studies at the Academy of Theatre Arts Saint Petersburg, which I will not continue due to my emigration from Russia in 2022. In Saint Petersburg I worked at the Hermitage, overseeing educational programmes. I worked with the Theatre Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Pop-UP Theatre and others. In Warsaw I work as a producer and PR manager for theatre and museum projects. In 2023, I won the competition for the best performative reading during the Theatre on Facts festival at the Jerzy Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw with a documentary play about Russians who opposed Putin and moved to Poland.

Anastazja’s residency is summarised in a journal in the form of a short zine. Each Warsaw Observatory of Culture residency has a unique dimension, and the participants’ account of their experiences reflect this diversity.

A week of rehearsals before the premiere at the Grotowski Institute. Now, all we will be thinking about is the upcoming performance. We would like to perform it again, especially in Warsaw.

I met with Dorota Ogrodzka, who told me about the educational opportunities in Poland: where to get a Master’s degree or PhD, what postgraduate studies are, and what majors are applicable to the theatre industry. She also invited me to observe exams on running educational workshops for first-year students of Theatre Pedagogy (University of Warsaw + Theatre Institute). I talked to the students and saw what they were doing.

A meeting with the Theatre Institute (IT) team and the residency participants.

Magda Szpak from IT told me about the institute’s work, including the programmes related to drama education. We also talked about education departments in Polish theatres in general. I also started English and Polish classes.

Somehow I managed to come down with an illness when it was 35 degrees outside, but luckily my friends and I had planned a weekend trip to Świnoujscie at the same time. While there, I kept myself busy by relaxing, thinking, and, of course, visiting the sights 🙂

I also had a chance to think about my career goals and make plans for the near future.

I would like to thank WOK for supporting my application for the MSN Summer School although, I was not accepted, I feel satisfied that I was able to apply.

I organised the broadcast of a recording of a Russian play for which the authors were sentenced to six years in prison. The broadcast took place in Russia in the Warsaw premises of the Russian Oppositionists’ Foundation, but we are also working on getting the Polish audience to see the play. Political prisoners are very important to me, and I try to do something about it.

Thanks to the support I received from WOK, I had my university diploma officially translated into Polish so I can apply to university in Poland this year.

My English class covers grammar but mainly speaking, as I have little experience speaking. Thanks to these lessons, I dared to attend an English-led theatre and movement workshop run by the Hoteloko team.

Also, thanks to WOK, I was able to resume the therapy I had stopped two years ago before leaving Russia for financial reasons. This is a huge and important thing. ❤️‍🩹 🩹

I sent an application to the Auschwitz Archive School and thanks to my English classes, I got in. After this training, I decided to volunteer at the archive, and now I work remotely with documents.

Through the support provided by WOK, I applied for an MA degree course at the Theatre Academy. I was accepted into the Theatre Studies department with a specialisation in Theatre Pedagogy.

In October, I worked as a curator for an anti-war art festival and directed one of the performative readings held there.

Having passed the Polish language exam, I will be able to apply for Polish citizenship in March.

I was invited to participate in a podcast where, together with other Russian women, I answered the podcaster’s questions.

I decided to take advantage of all the National Health Fund medical options provided as part of the residency. I had a few tests done, and it turned out I have an iron deficiency, so now I am under treatment to help improve that.

I also applied to several schools, scholarships and programmes. In November I took part in a school for memory activists, where we visited historical museums in Warsaw, met with lawyers and went to Gdańsk to visit the European Solidarity Centre and the World War II Museum.

As part of my residency, I handled many formalities related to paperwork, developed my language skills and expanded my network in my field of work. It helped me apply for programmes, training courses and scholarships, to get into my chosen field of study, and to do all the things I enjoy: going to museums and theatres and campaigning for Russian political prisoners. I became involved in the Polish art world, but I still try to help fight the regime in my own country.