Belyansky Leonid (10.10.1927, Poltava) – director, People's Artist of Russia.
In 1950, Leonid Belyavsky began performing at the Nizhny Novgorod Young Spectator's Theatre, playing lead roles as young heroes: Romeo and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet by W. Shakespeare, Marius in Les Misérables by V. Hugo, and Pyotr in Her Friends by V. Rozov.
In 1951, he graduated with honours from the acting department of the Nizhny Novgorod Theatre School. In 1955, he enrolled in the directing faculty of the Leningrad Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinematography (under Professors A. Muzil and A. Katzman).
From 1960, Leonid Belyavsky worked as a stage director at the Smolensk Drama Theatre, staging productions such as The Simple-Minded by Voltaire, The Two Gentlemen of Verona by W. Shakespeare, and Ocean by A. Stein.
Between 1962 and 1964, he was a director at the Nizhny Novgorod Academic Drama Theatre, where he staged How Are You, Young Man? by V. Panova, On the Wedding Day by V. Rozov, All My Sons by A. Miller, Hamlet by W. Shakespeare, and Dead Souls by N. Gogol (for which he received his first international award).
In 1964, at the invitation of A. Katz, Leonid Belyavsky moved to Riga, where he continued working as a director. There, he staged The Savage by Voltaire, An Hour Before Midnight by V. Shubrt, I Want to Be Honest by V. Voinovich, The Caucasian Chalk Circle by B. Brecht, Tempo-1929 by N. Pogodin, The Ninth Righteous Man by E. Yurandot, The Torn Rouble by S. Antonov, and co-directed the first musical West Side Story with A. Katz.
From 1975 to 1983, Leonid Belyavsky served as the chief director of the Norilsk Arctic Drama Theatre, where he staged Mystery-Bouffe by V. Mayakovsky, Two Arrows by A. Volodin, and other productions.
In 1983, he was appointed chief director of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Drama Theatre, staging The Theatre of Nero and Seneca by E. Radzinsky, From the Notes of an Unknown based on F. Dostoevsky, Thou Shalt Not Kill by V. Astafyev, and Children of Arbat by A. Rybakov.
In 1988, Leonid Belyavsky returned to Riga, where he was chief director of the Riga Russian Drama Theatre from 1988 to 1999. His productions there included Chonkin based on V. Voinovich, Camera Obscura by V. Nabokov, Mad Money by A. Ostrovsky, The Comedy of Errors by W. Shakespeare, The Mistress of the Inn by C. Goldoni, The Sins of Trina by R. Blaumanis, The Bridegroom from Jerusalem by Y. Bar-Yosef, A Plague on Both Your Houses by G. Gorin, and his own adaptation Onegin, My Good Friend based on A. Pushkin.
In 1999, Belyavsky returned to the Nizhny Novgorod Academic Drama Theatre.