Katya Zehireva(1926-2009)

Katya Zehireva was born on October 12, 1926 in Burgas. She graduated in "acting" at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Art, Sofia, Bulgaria in 1952 in the class of Professor Stefan Surchadzhiev. She was an actress in a Ruse Drama Theatre (1952-53), Theater "Labor Front" (1953-64), The "People's Stage" (1964-66), Theater "Tears and Laughter" (1966-73). She was an actress and Chief Manager of the Gabrovo Drama Theatre (1973-76) and of Theatre 199 in Sofia from 1976 to 1991. Her roles: Luisa in "Deceit and Love" by Friedrich Schiller, Eliza in "Pygmalion" by Bernard Shaw, Tatiana in "Enemies" by Maxim Gorky, Lida in "Platon Krechet" by A. Korneychuk, Hannah in "Widows" by A. Kertész, Antigone in "Antigone" by Lyudmil Stoyanov, Engineer Nouneva in "Gold Plating" by Dragomir Asenov , Getruda in "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare, Sarah Bernhardt in the mono-drama "Sarah Bernhardt". He was an outstanding master of the recitation; her repertoire included Shakespeare's sonnets, poems by Veselin Hanchev, Vladimir Bashev and many other Bulgarian poets. He was a Professor of art speech at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Art, Sofia, Bulgaria. She was a laureate of the Order "Stara Planina" I degree. She died on August 26, 2009 in Sofia, Bulgaria.