Sandro Akhmeteli

Alexandre Vasilis dze Akhmeteli, known professionally as Sandro Akhmeteli, was a Georgian theater director whose innovative conceptions and skill profoundly influenced the evolution of Georgian theater in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Commonly regarded as the greatest of all Georgian theater directors, he directed, from 1926 to 1935, the Rustaveli Theater in Tbilisi, Georgia, and transformed it into one of the most successful troupes in the Soviet Union. During Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge, he was arrested on trumped-up charges of being a foreign agent, tortured, and executed.