Dear friends!
We have a lot of messages regarding NOVAT in our mail. Notably the point at matter is not about the theatre but about its name. Some of you, largely young people, welcome new abbreviation. People of the older generation, on the contrary, are outraged by oblivion of the previous NGATOiB. There are a good few questions and these are the most frequent ones: what does NOVAT mean? Where did NGATOiB vanish? Why was the theatre renamed without an official consent?
Here is a little bit of history to begin with. NGATOiB name came into common use in the year of 1963 when the theatre was titled “academic” and a convenient vowel appeared in previously unpronounceable abbreviation. However, theatre old timers say, there was no enthusiasm on the matter but quite a lot of hearty humor.
Eventually merry associations withdrew into the shadows, the abbreviation passed into administrative use and theatre goers stopped noticing it. This is how they settle in with old even if funny and inconvenient but accustomed things. Ask yourself how often do you say to your friends and close ones: “Let’s go to NGATOiB!”. Never, I believe. Without a second thought you simply call the theatre “Opera”. But there are a lot of “Operas” in our country lavish with culture where there is only one NOVAT — bright, resonant, sounding.
NGATOiB was never registered officially which means that there is no such brand name. The theatre is called the Novosibirsk state academic opera and ballet theatre just as it used to be called. Our predecessors chose the time tested way by adding up words’ initial letters when abbreviating this phrase. If one wants to call the theatre exactly this way, please, be our guest you have every right to do so. But we decided to be more laconic.
You must admit that the name going to the grass roots should be lapidary and, if you want, daring. And how to decipher it... Well, for instance the Novosibirsk academic theatre. Or otherwise depending on your imagination. The main thing is that NOVAT associates with renewal where it is much like the Siberian capital. Novosibirsk is a new Siberian city. NOVAT is a new theatre and new always strikes roots with an effort. There is no getting around it; this is a protective attribute of human nature. But time will pass, dust around the theatre will settle and, perhaps, former NGATOiB followers will say “Now what if we just go to NOVAT?” without even noticing.
Sincerely yours,
Svetlana Naborshchikova
Deputy Director General for public relations