YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. 45 companies of actors from 30 countries of the world will perform on 17 stages of Yerevan in the days of the Highfest International Performing Arts Festival to be held between October 4 to 12 in Yerevan. Companies of actors arriving in Yerevan from Great Britain, the United States, Russia, Canada, Germany, Australia, Italy, Spain, Israel, France, and other countries wil present multi-genre, pantomime, dramatic, puppet performances, as well as modern dance theaters' best performances to the Armenian spectator. As festival director Artur Ghukasian reported at the September 26 press conference, renowned artists, chairmen of international festivals, theater critics will be present at the festival, who on the spot will hold seminars and round tables dedicated to cultural policy and art management in Armenia. A festival dedicated to the 100th anniversary of American Armenian writer William Saroyan will be held for the first time this year within the framework of Highfest. Performances by the motives of the great writer's works will be shown during the festival: 9 Armenian and 7 foreign companies of actors will present their performances. A Festival of Puppet and Children's Theaters will be also organized. This year world-famous playwright Mark Ravenhill (United Kingdom) will take part in the festival. In the days of the festival he will stage his play Lost Paradise jointly with Armenian actors. The festival head also said that this year the RA Ministry of Culture has allocated 35m drams for festival's organization. In consequence of the conflicts in the region 4-5 companies of actors, in particular, from Latvia, Luthuania, Sweden, have refused to take part in the festival. According to A. Ghukasian, they did not mention in their letters of refusal that he reason is political, but "it is spoken in the lobbies that Armenia is Russia's partner."

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