Omsk Kirill Serebrennikov. The former artistic director of the Omsk Fifth Theater, Nikita Grinshpun, was sentenced to five and a half years in a strict regime colony. He was found guilty of embezzlement and taking bribes.
Nikita Grinshpun is a graduate of GITIS, Oleg Kudryashov’s course. He also staged performances in the capital, in particular at the Theater of Nations. He has directed the Omsk theater since 2014. Local theatergoers knew him well. During his leadership in the theater there were, in a sense, risky productions, modern dramaturgy. True, he was both the chief director and director, he had little time for performances, says Irina Chernysheva, senior correspondent for the NGS55.RU online publication:
“Almost his only legacy in the repertoire of the Fifth Theater was the play “The Man from Podolsk”. This performance was loved by the actors, the audience, and the critics. And, in fact, before the announcement of the start of the criminal case, this performance visited the then out-of-competition program of the Golden Mask Award. Perhaps the case would have received more publicity if it had not been heard during the pandemic. Some telegram channels compared him with Serebrennikov, called him “Omsk Serebrennikov”. Judging by our observations, the entire theatrical map of Russia was also briefly agitated. The first article that was presented to him was embezzlement, that he concluded contracts for setting the light in some performances for other persons, and set the light himself. As Nikita Grinshpun himself and his lawyer Andrey Motovilov explained, according to their version, due to the fact that provincial theaters are allocated a rather modest budget, the head entered into an agreement for services with another person, put on the light himself, and the money that this alleged person received went to the performance.
As for the second article – taking a bribe – this was not immediately known. After the case had already been submitted to the court, at the court itself we already saw that there was a second article. In this case, the name of the director of the Fifth Theater already appeared, that is, Nikita Grinshpun – artistic director, Denis Shibaev served as director. Once they worked in Omsk even before all the appointments of Nikita Yulievich on one of the performances, then Denis Shibaev staged another performance with us, and then they began to cooperate when Nikita Yulievich already took the post of artistic director. And, according to the investigation, the performances, in which the name of the director Denis Shibaev is currently registered, were staged by Nikita Grinshpun. Denis Shibaev paid him compensation in return in order to stay at his workplace, keep his position and avoid disciplinary sanctions. Denis Shibaev was released from punishment, as he contributed to the disclosure of the crime.
The case against Nikita Grinshpun was initiated in June 2020, the director has since been under house arrest. Now his lawyers intend to appeal.