Tag #126701 - Interview #78034 (Luna Davidova)

When I came to Sofia I was fascinated by the theater. I have inherited the artistic inclinations of my father. I took part in a performance at the Jewish chitalishte, Emil Shekedjiisky;, it was still called Bialik at the time. [see Bialik, Haim Nachman (1873-1934) - famous poet who wrote in Hebrew. Born in Russia, since 1922 he lived in Germany where he was Head of the Hebrew Writers Union] [26] I recited Vaptszarov's poetry [see Vaptszarov, Nikola] [1927] one of the classics of Bulgarian literature - 'Oh, Mother, Fernandez was murdered.' Then Nikolay Masalitinov [famous Russian and Bulgarian director, Head Director of the National Theater 'Ivan Vazov' in Sofia (1925-1944)] was staging a Jewish play by Shoaleom Aleichem [28] called 'Tevye the Dairyman' starring the great Bulgarian actor Leo Konforti as Tevye. I took part in it on the stage of our chitalishte and obviously it turned out to be fine because Masalitinov was carried away by my performance. He said: 'You should go and apply at the Theatrical Academy.' It happened by chance -- well probably not only by chance -- I was admitted in September 1948 to VITIZ [Vissh Institut za Teatralno I Filmovo Izkustvo - Higher Institute for Theatrical and Film Arts]. I graduated in 1952 and I was immediately assigned to the Mladezhki Teatur [The Youth Theater].