On May 7-12, 2016, UNN Student Theater (art director Igor Avrov) took part in the VII International Festival and Competition of Independent Youth Theaters “Youth Space” and won the Grand Prix. 

The festival, organized in Sochi, brought together the following participants: People’s University Theater “Glagol” (Saint Petersburg, Russia), Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography (Yerevan, Armenia), Theater Studio of the Saint Petersburg State University of Aerospace (Saint Petersburg, Russia), Theater of the Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering (Obninsk, Russia), Artistic Association “Leader”, Rostov State University of Economics (Rostov-on-Don, Russia), People’s Theater “Na Stuliyakh” (Kotelniki, Russia), People’s Theater Studio “Helios” (Krasnodar, Russia), UNN Student Theater (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia), People’s Theater “AvosKA” (Konakovo, Russia). 

The members of the jury – Aidar Zakirov, Professor, Russian University of Theatre Arts and Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (Moscow, Russia); Sergei Tyuzhin, Theater Director (Moscow, Russia); Oksana Kholeva, Choreographer (Kaliningrad, Russia) – praised UNN’s version of Biloxi Blues as a professional performance with a brilliant cast. The cast included UNN students and alumni from the Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Information Technology, Mathematics and Mechanics, Faculty of Philology, Institute of Economics and Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Chemistry.