Etingof Natalia (1913)

Etingof Natalia (1913, St Petersburg) — director, writer. Spent her childhood and school years in Tiflis. In 1929, the family moved to Moscow; in 1930, E. enrolled at the newly organised theatre institute — GITIS — and was among its first graduates. Her graduation production was staged at the Arkhangelsk Theatre. After that, worked as assistant director at the Maly Theatre in Moscow, and then until 1940 was chief director of the Kostroma Theatre for Young Audiences. Returning to Moscow from evacuation, enrolled in the postgraduate programme at GITIS, where her supervisor was the well-known MKHAT director V.G. Sakhnovskiy. In 1948, was forced to leave the postgraduate programme due to the anti-cosmopolitan campaign. Moved with her husband S.B. Ainbinder to Riga. Worked as a director at the Riga Theatre for Young Audiences. In 1951, left the theatre due to the intensified antisemitic campaign and the oppressive atmosphere in culture. Staged one production at the Daugavpils Theatre. From 1954, began leading youth theatre studios in Riga, staging serious productions: “Valentin and Valentina” by A. Roshchin, plays by B. Brecht, “A Midsummer Night's Dream” by W. Shakespeare (at the Ilguciems Cultural House). From 1993, lives in Jerusalem. Author of autobiographical prose. Her book “Portraits with a Dry Brush,” telling of the fates of people who fell under the shadow of Stalinist repression, was illustrated by E.'s daughter Masha Ainbinder.

Works: A Tale of Ancestors Zerkalo. Tel Aviv, 1995–1996; The Maly Theatre Novy Zhurnal. New York, 2001. No. 223. Pp. 134–150; Portraits with a Dry Brush: A Collection of Stories. Jerusalem: “Alphabet,” 2000. P. 263; Stories Otechestvennye Zapiski. Moscow, 2008. No. 1. Pp. 314–333.