• They longed for the life of the stage, so they went out and built one.   
  • Daily News  |  February, 1986   
  • "Despite overwhelming odds, there are those hardy souls who want to run Off-Broadway theaters. Not only does Theater In Action deserve applause for its outstanding theater productions, but also for the extraordinary effort of building its own theater plank-by-plank; that certainly calls for outstanding ovation."
  • Soviet Emigre Rebuilds a Career  
  • By Joseph C. Koenenn  |  New York Newsday    
  • When Lev Shekhtman left the Soviet Union, he knew he would have to rebuild his theater. What he didn't know was that he would have to literally build a theater.
  • Stage: McGuire's 'God's Birthday'   
  • By D.J.R. Bruckner   |   New York Times, June 1, 1986    
  • "Between indulging himself and indulging his audience, Michael McGuire
    can make almost impossible, and sometimes dangerous, demands on actors.
    In his new play, ''God's Birthday in the Year of Our Lord 1945,'' company members of the Theater in Action under the direction of Lev Shekhtman give such a perfectly disciplined performance that one would not be surprised to see them fall in for close-order drill at some point. They could outperform
    the Marine band."
  • Marriage / An Outstanding Production of Gogol's 1842 Comedy  
  • Reviewed by Ari Salant  |   N.Y. Theater Voice  
  • Lev Shekhtman's current revival…gets to the essence of the play and deals marvelously with Gogol's wry blending of absurd dialogue in a realistic setting.
  • From Russia With Love  
  • Daily News  |  March, 1981    
  • "He started life in the theater at age six, working at a children's theater company.
    At 15 he started directing. Shekhtman met his wife Irene in the Children's troupe."
  • Cosmonaut's decline told in play by Russian Emigre   
  • The Jewish Week — American Examiner   |  Mar. 22, 1981    
  • Playwrights Horizons will present Heat of Re-entry, a new comedy by Abraham Tetenbaum, at its Queens Theater-in-the-Park beginning April 11. The theater is located on the site of the old World's Fair grounds in Flushing Meadow Park.
  • The dramatic tale of a play within a play  
  • By Janice Berman Alexander       
  • "'Heat of Re-entry' is in rehearsal in Manhattan for tonight's opening at Playwrights Horizon in Queens — 20 years to the week since Gagarin's first space flight. Lev Shekhtman, now 30, is chortling as he directs the actors in what he describes as "an ironical comedy."
  • From Russia — With Lev  
  • By Aleen Jacobson        
  • Review of "Heat of Reentry," a play written by Abraham Tetenbaum,
    directed by Lev Shekhtman.
  • Play sees Gagarin death as Symbolic   
  • By Deborah Hart Strober  |  The Jewish — Week American Examiner, Week of April 18, 1981   
  • Set both in the USA of the present and the USSR from 1942 until 1968, "Heat of Re-entry" chronicles the struggle of the protagonist, co-incidentally named Lev, to overcome his fearfulness of re-entering society in an urban American setting.
  • Theater In Action   
  • By Caroline Carrigan  |  Knickerbocker News July 27, 1979   
  • Lev Shekhtman os a dark, middle-aged man with a receding hairline and the slightly preoccupied expression you might expect from someone working with a tight budget, a tight schedule and the somewhat uncertain future of a fledgeling theater company. He also has a mischievous sense of humor, he punctuates his conversation with laughter…
  • Shekhtman Good Match for 'Marriage'   
  • By Dan Di Nicola  |  Schenectady Gazette, July 28, 1979    
  • Shekhtman's approach is unique: one which incisively phantasmagorical magic … This production of "Marriage" is an ambitious and brilliantly conceived undertaking … it is vivid, original and a wonderfully colorful lesson in how a talented director can enhance the workings of a simple, but perceptive comedy."
  • Russian Director Works At Lexington Theater  
  • Russian Director Works At Lexington Theater  |  by Jack Vincent   
  • LEXINGTON — Director Lev Shekhtman has been working industriously in preparation for Nikolai Gogol's "Marriage," the next performance to open at the Lexington Conservatory Theater. The theater has recently changed its schedule, replacing "Want" with "Marriage."



                 
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