Azniv Hrachia

Azniv Hrachia (1853–1920) was an Ottoman Armenian actress and director.

She debuted on the Arevelian Tatron (Oriental Theater) in 1869, and was later engaged at the Ottoman Theater.

The first actresses in the Ottoman Empire where from religious minorities, since Islamic sex segregation made it impossible for Muslim women to perform onstage. To perform was not considered a respectable profession, and because of this, female actors where hard to find, and were paied higher vages than their male colleagues. In a speech on her birthday in 1909 she commented her career:

"Thirty-five years ago a young Armenian woman's appearance on stage was a great sacrifice. To be called a "theater girl", and be ridiculed by the crowd, to withstand all this and move forward was possible only if one had a strong enough willpower".

In the 1880s she was active in Tiflis. She retired in 1883 for private reasons. She resumed her career in 1893, and was active in Baku, where she also debuted as a director of plays.

References

• Duygu Köksal,Anastasia Falierou: A Social History of Late Ottoman Women: New Perspectives. (2013). Nederländerna: Brill. p 39-45
• Women in the Ottoman Empire by Eric R Dursteler, Oxford Reference Online