UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 26, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil hosted Bulat Okudzhava Theater Days Festival in celebration of the plant’s 80th anniversary, the company press service reports.

Both the plant’s management and current and retired employees gathered together in Nizhniy Tagil Drama Theater on April 22 for the first night of We, the Undersigned, a play by Alexander Gelman. The city mayor Sergei Nosov gave a welcoming address to the audience before the show began.

The corporation’s deputy DG Alexei Zharich stressed the festival’s particular importance for the plant.

‘We can never forget that people and their life stories are what matters most. We know one such life story, that of Shalva Okudzhava, Bulat Okudzhava’s father, whose tragic fate is interwoven with the history of Ural Vagon Zavod’s early years. It was decided we should dedicate these three festival days to this family’s history as well as to the similarly tragic histories of other families who gave their blood, their sweat, and their lives to Ural Vagon Zavod,’ Zharich said.