A theater director from Komsomolsk-on-Amur has a new production in France. She moved her theater there after the war began. 

Tatyana Frolova's KNAM Theatre will be performing "I'm Fine" in Bobigny until March 28th, and then in Grenoble on May 5th and 6th. She wrote the play in exile. In it, the author traces her journey between two countries in search of new roots. 

"This is a play about how we search for new meanings, clues for our second life," the director told NeMoskva. 

The KNAM Theatre was founded in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in 1985, when Tatyana was 24 years old. In its homeland, the theatre had a small auditorium with a capacity of 26 people, a small audience, but its productions enjoyed successful performances across Europe. In 2022, after the outbreak of war, the artists were unable to work in Russia.

"We consider this monstrous war unleashed by the Russian government a crime. A crime not only against the citizens of Ukraine, but also against the citizens of Russia and the future of our country," requested artists on the website communicate with their viewers. 

Currently, productions are performed in Russian, but recently they've begun to incorporate scenes in French, adds Frolova. The main thing is that the theater itself has been preserved. 

"We're working with the same cast that left Russia in March 2022. As a whole theater, we've probably become happier in the last four years. For the first time in the theater's 40 years, we're getting paid for our work, rather than working as garbage collectors and then running off to the theater, like we did in Komsomolsk," the director added. 

They are very well-received in France. The KNAM's main "home" is the Célistan Theatre. Today, the troupe returned from Paris, where they received a very warm welcome. 

"The reception was incredible, with lots of journalists and interviews. Theaters from Belgium, Germany, France, and Switzerland really loved us. And it's still amazing to us," adds Frolova.