Valentin Nikolaevich Pluchek was a renowned theatre director, actor and screenwriter. He studied at the State Experimental Workshop of Vsevolod Meyerhold at the acting and then directing faculty. In 1928 he debuted in a small role in "The Government Inspector" directed by V.Meyerhold. In 1938 Valentin Pluchek, along with playwrights Alexei Arbuzov and Alexander Gladkov, established the "State Moscow Theatre Studio" which they co-led. Among the participants of the studio were Zinovy Gerdt, Leonid Agranovich, Alexander Galich, Vsevolod Bagritsky, Mikhail Lvovsky, and Isai Kuznetsov. The premiere of the play based on the collectively written play about the construction of Komsomolsk-on-Amur "City at the Dawn" took place in February 1941. The play was a great success and was staged many times. During the war years Valentin Pluchek became the chief director of the Drama Theatre of the Northern Fleet in Polyarny, where he staged productions such as "Long Ago" by Alexander Gladkov, "The Servant of Two Masters" by Carlo Goldoni, "Late Love" by Alexander Ostrovsky, and "The Dog in the Manger" by Lope de Vega. After the war, Valentin Pluchek returned to Moscow and directed various productions at the Satire Theatre, including "It's None of Your Business" by Vladimir Polyakov (1950), "Spilled Cup" by Wan Shi-Fu and "Lost Letter" by Ion Creangă (in collaboration with Nikolai Petrov, 1952), "How One Man Fed Two Generals" by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin (1953), "Breakfast with the Leader" by Ivan Turgenev (1953), "The Gamblers" by Nikolai Gogol (1953). He also worked on many well-known performances, including "The Bathhouse" (in collaboration with Sergey Yutkevich and Nikolai Petrov) and "The Bedbug" by Vladimir Mayakovsky, which was performed in Paris in 1963. In 1957 Valentin Pluchek became the chief director of the Satire Theatre, where he worked until 2000. In 1966 premiered his famous production of "Terkin in the next world" by Alexander Tvardovsky, followed by the immensely popular "The Marriage of Figaro" by Beaumarchais in 1969. In the following years, he staged significant plays such as "Nest of wood grouse" by Viktor Rozov, "The Suicide" by Nikolai Erdman, and a new interpretation of "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov. At the age of 80, he directed "Tribunal" by Vladimir Voinovich and continued to work on productions until his death on 17 August 2002. To commemorate the centenary of the master in 2009, a permanent exhibition was opened at the new branch of the A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum — the Museum-Apartment of Valentin Pluchek. The apartment preserves the atmosphere of the director's life: antique furniture, paintings by artists such as Alexander Tyshler, Robert Falk, and Marc Chagall. The memorial section includes sketches for the production of "The Cherry Orchard," a costume worn by Andrei Mironov in "Figaro" and models for "The Bathhouse" and "The Government Inspector." After the restoration is completed, exhibits related to the life and work of the director will be available again at the Bakhrushin branch — the Museum-Apartment of Valentin Pluchek. Some of these materials are also presented in our online collection: that includes letters, costume and set sketches, programs, and brochures for performances.