The Ekaterinburg History Museum has an in-house director and a constantly operating theatrical platform that annually brings into life one to three original theatrical projects dedicated to the history of the city. The theater mainly addresses the topic of private memory, family history, and political repressions.


Bus Route No. 33 was the first theatrical project of the museum. It is a synthesis of a radio play and a performance tour around the Uralmash District. Then the play Uralmash GO followed. And after that, two more projects continued addressing the topic of district history. The play Grandma's House, which tells the history of the Nizhne-Isetsky/Khimmash District through the lens of one particular family, and two audio-and-art promenades around the Verkh-Isetsky and Zheleznodorozhny Districts.

The second bunch of projects is devoted to political represssions. A Route of Memory, a bus radio play, was created on the basis of interviews with relatives of some victims of the repressions and their voices. Then the complex immersive project Case No. 39496 was born. The play The Road Home was driven by the same topic. A number of works were created and shown as part of adult and youth laboratories, such as the 1937 newspaper reading session, the Honest Citizens game, and a number of works from Laboratory 37/38.

Another area of focus of the theatrical platform is devoted to transforming educational games. These include the Family Album project and The Nineties.

Among other projects of the platform are interactive laboratories and performances at the Ekaterinburg History Museum temporary exhibitions. For example, the verbatim theater play This Was My Experience Too! was created in real time with the direct participation of the audience, in the exposition space titled Small Products of Large Factories. The exhibition was devoted to the history of giant enterprises that produced not only large-sized equipment but also household items. The play helped the audience revive their emotional memories by recognizing pieces of furniture from the times of the Soviet Union that all Russian people had in their apartments. Behind each of those things, whether it was a table lamp, an armchair, or a washing machine, there was a personal story: often touching and soul-stirring. There is also the Levels of Time exhibition. The actors of the City Acting Workshops held a performance based on the memories of the residents of houses No. 52 and 54 on Lenina Avenue and the resonation of these memories with the emotional memory of modern people.

Performances by the theatrical platform are in demand not only in Ekaterinburg: The actors have tours in Moscow and Tomsk.