Karaganda Regional Russian Drama Theatre named after K.S. Stanislavsky has an unusual and very interesting history. The origins of the theater began in 1930, when the mobile theatre of mass cultural work "Living Newspaper" was organized in Semipalatinsk. The theatre was converted into a mobile theatre as part of Turksib train in 1932. During this period, the troupe had traveled ten thousands of kilometers, and hundreds of thousands of audiences saw performances.
The first director of the theater was Vasily Portnov, whose sketches were played by the staff. The theatre placed on wheels and housed in three cars at that time. One of three cars was a shelter for the actors, and the other two kept props and conducted repetitions.
In 1935, the theatre finally succeeded and changed the three cars for hospital building in Kustanay in 1935. The repertoire had plays of William Shakespeare, Alexander Ostrovsky, A. Afinogenov and others.
The team was renamed the Karaganda Regional Russian Drama Theatre and directed to Pribalhashstroy in 1936, then the team moved to Karaganda in 1940. The first anniversary of troupe was celebrated by "Hamlet" performance. In the first days of the Great Patriotic War, the team became less than 20 people, who went voluntarily to the front. The concert team was formed in the theatre, which performed to soldiers of Baltic Front. Moscow and Kiev theatres were moved to Karaganda, and the team was moved again to the Balkhash until the completion of the Palace of Culture of Miners construction in 1951.
Honored artists of the Kazakh SSR Alexander Podobed and Gregory Zhezmer, National Artists of the Republic Ruben Andriasyan and Mark Silbermann led the team of the theatre in the 60 - 70s. Theater performances were the laureates of national competitions. The theater was named after the great director Konstantin Stanislavsky for creative success drama in 1963.
Karaganda Regional Russian Drama Theatre celebrated fiftieth anniversary in 1981, and in honor of this auspicious date, it was awarded the Order of Friendship of People.
Honored artist Henry Ogannisyan was the chief director almost twenty years from 1986 to 2006. During this period, the theatre toured successfully in Almaty, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kemerovo and other cities. Karaganda Regional Russian Drama Theatre became the double laureate of the republican festivals.
The basis of the creative team, the theater has talented actors as National artists of the Kazakh SSR Vasily Karabaev, Anna Demidova, Vasily Kornienko, Victor Borisov and Honored artists of our Republic Konstantin Rausch, Zinaida Goreva, Gregory Podzolkin, Natan Belkin, Ivan Kalachanov, Ivan Koshelev, Timophey Zelenin, Taisa Davydova, Vasily Makuch, Dmitry Belov, Leonid Spassky, Antonina Zimareva, Anatoly Grigoryev, National Artists of Russia Alesya Buldakova, Vladimir Beletsky, Nina Konstantinova, Yosef Kamyshev and Honored artists of Russia Nadezhda Mikryukova Tatiana Korableva Boris Melikdzhanov, Viktor Miroshnichenko, Honored Artist of Armenia Yuri Frolov, who worked on the stage in different years.
Today experienced and well-known actors, young talented artists of the scene work in the troupe. The repertoire of the theatre has many works of Russian and foreign classics and successful productions of contemporary works. The team of the theater is always happy for fans and tries to attract a new audience.