The Karaite actor Isaak Douvan-Tortsov and the Prague group MAT (MAAT) in the interwar Republic of Czechoslovakia

Isaak Douvan-Tortsov, an actor and director of Karaite origin, was one of the leading figures in Russian theater at the beginning of the 20th century. Like many other representatives of Russian culture, Douvan-Tortsov emigrated following the Civil War, spending time in many countries both in Europe and elsewhere. In the 1920s, Douvan had the opportunity, via the Moscow Art Theater Prague Group, to travel to Czechoslovakia, where he spent several months and devoted himself to theater work. Isaak Douvan-Tortsov spent time in Prague at the end of 1925 and the beginning of 1926, primarily in the Vinohrady Municipal Theatre, but he also visited other cities in what was then Czechoslovakia for MAT (MAAT) performances, as was mentioned in news stories from the time. The text deals predominantly with this thus far unknown period of Douvan’s life