Photo-documentary exhibition dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the birth of Mara Shopov
News публикувана на: 20.09.2024
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On 27 September 2024, in the next edition of the "Night of Arts", the Department of the State Archives - Stara Zagora will present a photo-documentary exhibition dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the birth of Mara Shopov.
She was a famous theatre artist, the first woman in Bulgaria to direct an opera performance, the first voice on the air of the oldest out-of-town radio - Radio Stara Zagora. She is the progenitor of a whole dynasty of gifted actors - the great artist Naum Shopov, Honorary Citizen of Stara Zagora, is her son. Her grandson is the world-famous actor Hristo Shopov. Her great-grandson Dr. Naum Shopov is also an actor, TV presenter of popular shows and influencer.
Maria Delcheva Miteva was born in October 1894 in Haskovo. At the age of 17 she married Petar Rajekov. Kichka and Georgi were born. After the death of her husband, in 1920 she arrived in Stara Zagora together with her brother Dancho Delchev. The two of them began their artistic career on the stage of the Theatre Society. A year later, she started a family with Hristo Shopov, the secretary of the Society. Krasimir and Naum were born. Mara Shopov appears in the cultural and social life of Stara Zagora. It is no coincidence that her son Naum defines her as "the lamp around which the cultural life of Stara Zagora revolves". She has appeared on stage not only as an actress, but also as a director. She has directed productions in schools and community centres, and helped new actors entering the theatre. She has been in contact with prominent personalities such as the poet Kiril Hristov, Georgi and Kichka Batalov - the first opera artists...
"For two months now, almost every day, work and care around what is the essence of my life-the stage. Still a line does not come to mark, because a few dry lines do not satisfy me, do not express all that I have experienced..."- she wrote in one of her many diaries.
The first woman director of the Bulgarian musical theatre, Mara Shopova, also records her name in this story. In 1925 she was invited by the Kaval Society to stage the opera Gergana by maestro Georgi Atnasov:
"They decided to entrust me with the direction and performance of the role of Gergana. What trust and what naivety. They heard me sing the role of Maria from Ivanko and thought I could be Gergana. It cost me a lot of effort to pull off this impossible task for me and I only accepted the direction," says Shopov. They collected costumes and props for the production from the villages around and from their own homes...
"We will be happy to share with you some of the documentary wealth donated personally by the actress to the archive" - say the organizers from the State Archive-Stara Zagora.
Come from 6:30 to 22:00 on September 27.
The exhibition will be exhibited in the reading room of the archive, ul. "Gen. 81.