Vanadzor's main theatre faces Hayk Square with a colonnaded facade that would not look out of place in a much larger city. It is named for Hovhannes Tumanyan, the early-twentieth-century poet and storyteller born up the road in the village of Dsegh, whose verse novel Anush and the epic Sasuntsi Davit are pillars of modern Armenian literature.
The company performs in Armenian, so the programme is hard going for visitors without the language, but the building itself is worth a look from the outside, and the cafe-lined plaza in front of it is one of the better places in the city to sit in the evening. Check posters at the entrance for occasional concerts, dance evenings, and children's matinees that translate better than the talky dramas.