Theater in St. Petersburg filed for insolvency

On April 28, the Arbitration Court received an insolvency petition from the theater "Beyond the Black River".  The amount of the claim indicated in the document (4 million rubles) is associated with the case of unjust enrichment.  In January 2022, the organization lost the  lawsuit to the housing cooperative in the cassation. The company serves the multi-storey residential building where the theater is located.

The theater, founded by Oleg Mendelson in 1983, operates as an autonomous non-profit organization (ANPO).  The organization moved to the building on Bogatyrsky Prospekt in 1994.  However, for more than a decade, the theater management and local public utilities have continued litigation in court.

Premises with an area of   628.1 sq.  meters that the theater occupies were given to it for free use.  The theater insisted on this.  However, ANO failed to submit documents confirming this fact to the arbitration.  The housing cooperative demanded rent payments from November 1, 2017 until the end of 2018, considering it legal for the organization to participate in operating costs and utility bills.  As a result, the court sided with the cooperative.

The head of the theater, Sergei Gvozdev, reports that the organization will continue its activities in the nearest future.  There are no plans to cancel the performances, and the theatrical repertoire has already been formed.

Experts believe that by declaring bankruptcy, ANO hopes to draw the attention of the city authorities to the situation that developed a long time ago in this way.  It is possible that bankruptcy, if it does take place, will allow the organization to find a generous philanthropist or professional mediator who can resolve the conflict.

According to “Kommersant.  St. Petersburg”, referring to representatives of the city committee for culture, ANO periodically participates in the competition among non-state theaters, receiving regular subsidies.  For several years, the state has allocated more than 7 million rubles to the theater, supporting the participation of the troupe in festival events.

This information is confirmed by the head of the theater.  However, in his opinion, the pandemic and the related restrictions of recent years have hurt the financial state of the organization.  Last year, the theater managed to raise revenue of 11.2 million rubles, ending 2021 with a loss of 1.22 million. The previous year 2020 was also unprofitable.