Most of the prisoners of the Gulag camps were arrested for political reasons, according to Article 58 (RSFSR Penal Code).
This is the camp commander, Colonel of the NKVD Maltsev (Михаил Митрофанович Мальцев[1][2]), who ordered first to organize a theater.
The first chief director of the theater was a prisoner Boris Mordvinov (ru: Мордвинов, Борис Аркадьевич), former director of the Bolshoi Theatre, and professor of the Moscow Conservatory (he was convicted as a spy).
Among the famous prisoners were: an operatic singer Boris Deyneka (ru: Дейнека, Борис Степанович), an operatic singer Theodor Routkovsky (Т. И. Рутковский), a singer, poet and literary translator Tatiana Lechtchenko (ru: Лещенко-Сухомлина, Татьяна Ивановна), an actress Valentina Tokarskaya (ru: Токарская, Валентина Георгиевна), a playwright and screenwriter Aleksei Kapler, a composer Vladimir Mikosho (Владимир Владимирович Микошо), an actor Boris Kozin (Борис Козин), an actress V. Pyaskovskaya (В.Пясковская), an artist Peter Bendel (Пётр Эмильевич Бендель) (de: Peter Emiljewitsch Bendel), a young singer Valentina Ishchenko (Валентина Мефодьевна Ищенко), a choreographer A. Dubin-Belov (А. М. Дубин-Белов), a violinist A. Biukhart (А. Бюхарт), etc.
After Joseph Stalin’s death the camp was reorganized and the theater entered the city system.