Moscow theatre «School of Modern Drama» was founded in 1989, in the first years of perestroika. That was a period when Russian intelligentsia longing for freedom in art gave birth to an extremely large variety of cultural phenomena. In performing arts these were experimental studios, underground formations and artistic laboratories, the majority of which did not live a long life. «School of Modern Drama» became one of very few companies which managed to survive, turned out to be competitive and nowadays stands in a row with major Russian theatres which are proud of their long glorious biographies. The company found its niche of a theatre market - contemporary playwrighting, in which it feels quite at ease. In its work and organizational structure «School of Modern Drama» follows the main principle of traditional Russian repertoire theatre: a permanent cast united by common views on theatre art. For almost 20 years of its existence the company presented over 40 premiers, the majority of which were world premieres. A considerable part of plays were written specially for «School of Modern Drama» Artistic search, experiment, unusual projects, new names – these features are characteristic of the theatre that reached maturity and at the same time kept typical youngsters’ liveliness and a good deal of provocation in its works. At present «School of Modern drama» has 18 productions in its repertoire. Among them: «Notes of a Russian Traveler» and «The City» by one of the most prominent contemporary Russian dramatists Eugeny Grishkovets, «In One’s Own Words» – an original production by Iosif Raykhelgauz, in which instead of pronouncing a playwright’s text, or at least any text written specially for the case, the actors give way to their fantasy and perform a chain of short improvisations on given themes «Russian Confiture» by an outstanding Russian writer Liudmila Ulitskaya «Seagull» – the most unexpected trilogy based on three scenic versions of Chekhov’s masterpiece. Together with new titles the theatre’s playbill displays productions staged in the first years of its existence. A play by Semeon Zlotnikov «Came a Man to a Woman», premiered on 27 March 1989, started the history of «School of Modern Drama» and after 550 performances is still sold out.