Azniv Hrachia
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Azniv Hrachia (born Azniv Grigori Minasian; Armenian: Ազնիվ Հրաչյա; 1853 – 20 May, 1919) was an Ottoman Armenian actress. She was also the first Armenian woman to serve as a director.[1]
Azniv Hrachia | |
|---|---|
| Ազնիվ Հրաչյա | |
| Born | 1853 |
| Died | 1919 (aged 65–66) |
| Occupation | Actress |
Early life
Hrachia was born Azniv Minasian in Constantinople.[1] Her father died early in her childhood, which her contemporaries believed informed an "inexplicable melancholy" that coloured her temperament throughout her life.[2]
From a young age, she showed an interest in the arts and acting.[3] Educated at a school run by Catholic nuns, she was not an academic high achiever; she displayed more interest in her school's theatre group, which she successfully joined.[2][3]
Acting career
In 1869, Hrachia debuted at the Arevelian Tatron (Eastern Theatre), under director and actor Bedros Magakyan.[1]
At this time, few women in the Ottoman Empire acted.[4] The first actresses were from religious minorities, as Islamic sex segregation prohibited Muslim women from performing onstage, and acting was not considered to be a respectable profession.[4] Nonetheless, women receiving payment for any type of work was associated with lower social classes across cultures.[5] Hrachia's mother agreed to let her daughter perform on the condition she was not paid for doing so, though Hrachia accepted the wages in secret.[5] Later, Hrachia wrote of the arrangement: "Why would I not take it? It was the money I had earned. It was my honest wages."[5]
Early in her career, her close colleague, Petros Adamian, advised her to permanently adopt the stage name 'Hrachia.'[3] Meaning 'eyes of fire,' the name had been bestowed upon her by audiences.[6]
While working at the Eastern Theatre, she also joined Güllü Agop's theatre troupe.[1] She typically performed in historical or patriotic tragedies, as well as French and Italian melodramas.[1] She also directed some productions, earning the distinction of being the first Armenian woman to work as an art director.[3]
Over her career, Hrachia developed a reputation for realism in her performances.[7] Her acting style favoured believable reactions and natural body language.[8] She also took great care with her speech, receiving recognition for her clear diction and use of tone to convey mood.[8] Critics compared her realism to Eleonora Duse, an Italian actress similarly recognised for working to understand her characters' motivations.[8]
Hrachia took a hiatus from acting between 1883 and 1893, when she briefly returned as part of an Armenian theatre troupe in Tbilisi and Baku.[1] After being diagnosed with tuberculosis shortly into her career revival, she settled in Baku in 1896 and became an acting teacher for new performers, including Arus Voskanyan.[9][8]
In 1909, she published a memoir ("My Memories").[1] Reflecting on her career in a speech on her birthday that same year, Hrachia noted: "Thirty-five years ago a young Armenian woman's appearance on stage was a great sacrifice. To be called a "theatre girl", and be ridiculed by the crowd, to withstand all this [was] possible only if one had a strong enough willpower."[10]
Personal life
Death
Select roles
Hrachia's notable performances included:[7]
- Joan of Arc in The Maid of Orleans by Friedrich Schiller
- Sofia in Woe from Wit by Alexander Griboyedov
- Nina in Masquerade by Mikhail Lermontov
- Marguerite Gautier in The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas