Eighth Creative Union of MEPhI

The Eighth Creative Union (ECU) of Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI) (Восьмое творческое объединение (ВТО) Московского инженерно-физического института (МИФИ)) is a creative and interdisciplinary team unifying students, graduates, postgraduate students and the university lecturers and professors. The ECU implies a variety of activities including a student theatre of pop sketches, arrangement of concerts and performances, scriptwriting, arrangement of night entertainment events and conventions, issuing of wall newspapers along with prose, poetry and playwriting almanacs, participating in Singer-Songwriter Club and Club of the Funny and Inventive People and Sharp-witted activities and taking part in different shows and competitions.

History of the ECU
The Union was founded at Physics and Power Engineering Faculty of Moscow National Research Nuclear University MEPhI in accordance with the Faculty Komsomol (Young Communist League) Committee decree. Its stage debut was on 13 December 1969. Its first President was Oleg Yurievich Fyodorov, a former captain of 1962 Institute CCS (Club of the Cheerful and Sharp-witted. Клуб Веселых и Находчивых) team.



Traditions
First-year Student's Day is celebrated annually on 1 September. The ECU have conducted a theatrical performance for the first-year students of all faculties since 1 September 1974.



Propaganda teams. They are small creative ECU teams which used to go on tour to remote areas of the country in the Soviet times. The first propaganda team went to Naberezhnye Chelny in 1974 when Kamaz was being erected. The final trip of that sort was made in July 1989.

MEPhI Club of the Funny and Inventive People. It is a part of the ECU which was finally formed at the end of the 1990s. V. Shambarov remembers that "In 1969 when the ECU was established there were several groups of the guys. One group which included Kolya Artem’ev and Nina Gulova wanted to establish a theatre. The guys from the other group headed by Khutsiev wanted to take part in Club of the Funny and Inventive People (KVN) competition. As they had come to an agreement they established something in between, a theatre of KVN style."

Film and video production
In 1990 the ECU shot an introduction video of MEPhI KVN team required for participation in the First All-Union KVN Festival in Dnipropetrovsk (script by A. Selin, directed by A. Yazlovsky). It was a parody of The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol. The action took place in the National Opera of Ukraine.

Rewards



 * 1975 performance "Thunderstorm"; written by V. Shambarov, directed by A. Golikov won the laureate title at Moscow contest devoted to the 30th anniversary of Eastern Front (World War II).

The ECU famous names

 * Selin Alexander (1958–2014) is a writer, stage director, literature activist and the author of two novels and storybook New Romantic (Noviy Romantik Russian: «Новый романтик»). Also he was one of the ECU administrators and an author of plays and short short stories.
 * Semyonov Arkadiy is a Russian rock poet, one of the founders of rock groups the "27th Kilometer" and the "Polite Refusal" (Russian: "Вежливый отказ") and an author of some of their songs. He was one of the ECU administrators and an author of plays and short short stories.