Conversations About Happiness, the "For Life!" Award, and Recognition of Andrei Leonov: First Meeting of the "Directors' Box" Opens a New Theater Season

The first meeting of the new season of the "Directors' Box" of Moscow theaters took place on September 28, 2026, in the capital. The event became a platform where art speaks not only about the stage, but also about what matters most: the connection between generations, memory, support, and that which constitutes human happiness.

The heads of the capital's theaters discussed how cultural institutions live today, what challenges they face, and how art can serve as a support in difficult times. The participants paid particular attention to family programs and practices that make culture truly accessible and supportive. After all, for many, it is the theater that becomes that very space where one can breathe out, feel part of a large living world, and find inner support.

An important part of the evening was the presentation of the first Mikhail Gluz Award "For Life!", timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the composer's birth – a man for whom music always remained not merely a profession, but a genuine gift, a way to give the audience light, emotions, and faith in the best.

- He was interested not only in theater, but also in what he loved most in the world - music, which he generously shared with the public, - emphasized the head of the "Directors' Box" of Moscow theaters, president of the Mark Zakharov’s Lenkom Theater, Honored Art Worker of Russia Mark Varshaver.

The first laureates of the award were People's Artists of Russia Alexander Lazarev and Andrei Leonov. For Andrei Leonov, this evening turned out to be especially poignant - several important events converged in it: the centenary of the birth of his father, Evgeny Leonov, the memorial days of Mark Zakharov and Mikhail Gluz, as well as the centennial anniversary of the legendary Lenkom.

- As you can see, we have both tears and joy, and all in one, – said Andrei Leonov, unable to conceal his emotion, precisely expressing that complex but genuine palette of feelings that art gives rise to.

Many cultural figures involved in this evening and in the life of the theater as a whole have already shared their reflections on meaning and happiness in interviews for the "Aggregator of Happiness" magazine. Among them:

• Lev Lantsman - academician, honorary member of the Union of Writers of Russia, professor at the I. D. Kobzon Institute of Theater Arts, head of the "Capital Guild of Cultural Figures of the City of Moscow" under the Commission on Culture and Mass Communications of the Moscow City Duma;

• Nonna Grishaeva - theater and film actress, TV presenter, Honored Artist of Russia, artistic director of the Moscow State Theater ROSTA in Tsaritsyno;

• Mark Varshaver - Honored Art Worker of the Russian Federation, head of the "Directors' Box" of Moscow Theaters, president of the Moscow State Theater "Mark Zakharov’s Lenkom";

• Andrei Leonov - People's Artist of the Russian Federation, actor of the "Mark Zakharov’s Lenkom" Theater;

• Larisa Luzhina - People's Artist of the RSFSR, theater and film actress;

• Nikas Safronov - People's Artist of the Russian Federation, academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, professor at Ulyanovsk State University –

and others.

The participants of the meeting agreed that happiness is not in loud words, but in fidelity to one's work, in the living memory of those who came before us, in the ability to hear one another, and in the courage to remain sincere before the audience.

- The new theater season is open, what means ahead lie new productions, new meetings, and new conversations about what constitutes happiness. And perhaps it is precisely in such conversations that the very space of mutual understanding is born, which connects people across all boundaries, - the organizers noted.

Additional information is available on the official website of the World Peoples Assembly and at media@world-assembly.org.