Mikhail Shchepkin Higher Theatre School  The Mikhail Semyonovich Shchepkin Higher Theatre School (Institute) is a drama school associated with the State Academic Maly Theatre in Moscow. It was established in 1809 by decree of Alexander I of Russia. Since 1938, the school was named after Mikhail Shchepkin, a prominent Russian actor and college teacher in the period from 1830 until his death in 1863. With the direct assistance of the Shchepkin School in 1863 received a building on Neglinnaya Street, where it remains to this day. In 1943, the school received the status of a higher educational institution. The rector of the school is Professor Boris Nikolaevich Lyubimov, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation.