There are two sides to every story, and often the side that tells it best gets the larger audience.
This is what a small group of theater fanatics are trying to prove in Armenia with an uphill battle to keep their art form alive without government funding.
"Many of us still think that the theater is dying, and nothing of quality can be produced because there is no money from the government," said playwright and actor Vahram Sahakian after a recent presentation of one of his works in Yerevan
The nearly 500-seat theater, where tickets cost about 10 dollars, was sold out.
"There is always a market for good plays, and if actors and directors sit back and do nothing, it is their fault. Funding is important, but creativity is not necessarily money-driven, especially in the theater," he said.
Sahakian is among a group of young artists who are challenging the economic barrier not only by their artistic talent, but their stubborn perseverance.
They are diversifying their endeavors. If they are not on stage acting, they are involved in commercial television productions, advertising, or writing plays for others.
After 70 years of government funding for the arts, the money stopped after independence, forcing the vast majority of Armenia's 32 state-owned theaters to close down.
"We were used to government funding, but suddenly we were out of work. Many actors were forced to do other things like working in kiosks and selling cigarettes. Many left the country in search of work elsewhere. For a while, it was very demoralizing," he said.
The decline had all but reached rock bottom if not for small groups of talented artists and performers who launched a revolution — not against the government, but against their more traditional colleagues who sat back and waited for government assistance.
Banking on their popularity and fame as members of the Armenian team that won the first prize in 1995 at the famous KVA comic talent and game show for world-wide Russian speakers, 10 young amateurs — all university graduates and with different backgrounds — set on a long journey of revitalizing the theater and cinema scene at home.
"The annual KVA competitions date back to 1960 and have always been very popular in the former Soviet Union. Now Russian immigrants from Israel and the United States also take part. We have competed against the best of the Soviet Union and know what survival means," says Ruben Jaghinyan, one of the founding members of the Sharm production house whose members are all former participants of the popular talent and game show.
Today, Sharm has 45 employees, and while it still leads and organizes the Armenian participation in KVA's annual international competitions, it also produces feature-length Armenian films, election campaign footage for Armenian television, and state-of-the-art advertising films for both the local Armenian and Russian markets.
"We have already done some work for UNICEF and a few other organizations and our next step is to get involved with international advertising agencies," jaghinyan said in a recent interview after a tour of Sharm's bustling modern facilities in Yerevan.
While pursuing commercial careers, which also include the production of Armenian music videos for ethnic television stations in California along with a local weekly television show, Sharm's founding members have not lost sight of their first love — the theater.
ITrant Tokhatyan, Sharm's Commercial Director, is also an actor who has appeared in several feature films and
Plays, including Khatabala, a comic drama based on the socio-political changes in post-independent Armenia packed with a dose of entertainment including several scenes which look more like cabaret acts.
"We have to give the audience its money's worth if we are to attract the crowds," Tokhatyan says.
The play has already traveled to the United States and efforts are being pur-sued to take the production to other countries with large Armenian communities.
"I am an actor who cannot sit still. With money we generate from our commercial activities, we produce plays, which in turn also generate cash. We can-not sit back and wait for the government to provide funding for the arts," Tokhatyan said.
"The theater is an extension of our society and community life. It will not die," he said.
But Tokhatyan, like fellow actor Michael Boghossyan and others, agrees that market conditions have a serious impact on the Armenian theater.
"Money is an important factor. Even with a full house, stage performances cannot continue for more than a few weeks at a time because of a limited audience.
"We cannot put on elaborate productions which need huge sets. That's why we are seeing a decline in the opera and similar performances.
"If it's a choice between Shakespeare or nothing, then the art scene will be the loser. But the theater has to constantly adapt to the changing world around it. One thing we cannot do, and that is to surrender," he said.
Like Tokhatyan, veteran actor Michael Boghossyan, agrees that the theater needs to change in order to survive, but also advocates government help.
"At the moment, everything revolves around money. Armenia has a very strong artistic and cultural heritage which the government must help preserve. Look at the support the arts get in the United States, France and England, we too need some help if we are to produce more than just what sells tickets," Boghossyan said.
But once an actor, always an actor.
"We might not get rich, but we like to tell stories on stage, and if we are good, the people will not let us down," Tokhatyan says.
