President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife Olena congratulated the staff of Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater on the centenary.
At the beginning of the performance, Volodymyr Zelenskyy read a humorous monologue dedicated to the anniversary of the theater. In his monologue, the President said that he remembers what it is like to be on stage, laughed at official bureaucratic speeches and emphasized the sincerity of his greetings.
"I respect you all. You are true masters of the stage. I want to congratulate all 590 people - a great team, one team - we are grateful to you all as spectators. All directors, masters, experienced and young actors, composers, wonderful make-up artists and wonderful ladies who work in cloakrooms. You are all one team. I think coronavirus will definitely end soon, and again there will be sold-outs and applause only for you," he said.
The President also presented awards for a significant personal contribution to the development of theatrical art, high professionalism and many years of fruitful creative activity.
In addition, the Head of State awarded the honorary titles of "People's Artist of Ukraine", "Honored Artist of Ukraine" and "Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine".
After the award ceremony, the President of Ukraine and the First Lady continued to watch the festive program of the anniversary evening, taking seats in the auditorium.
The event was also attended by Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak, his Deputy Yurii Kostiuk and Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko.
