Nikolai Chayev
Nikolai Alexandrovich Chayev was a Russian writer, poet and playwright.
A Moscow University graduate who for several years was the chief supervisor of the Kremlin Armoury, Chayev debuted in 1859, originally as fiction writer. He then turned to drama, choosing the early Russian history as his theme, and had his best-known work produced at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, and Maly Theatre in Moscow. His play The Tsar and the Great Prince of Russia, Vasily Ivanovich Shuysky was produced by the Korsh Theatre in 1883 and earned him the Griboyedov Prize of that year. He also authored two novels on the times of Pavel I , as well as the poem Nadya.
Chayev was a co-founder in 1874 of the Society of Russian Dramatists and Opera Composers and served as its chairman for a while. After Alexander Ostrovsky's death he succeeded him as the head of the Repetroire committee for the Moscow Theatres.
