Skibnevsky was born on April 8, 1903, in
Moscow,
Russian Empire. His mother Evelina and father Bronislav were from
Grodno Poles (Belarus) and moved to Moscow in 1900. In the period 1918 to 1921 he was in the (the 'food acquisition army') as part of the
Prodrazverstka campaign. From 1921 to 1924 he worked at the 'Hammer and sickle factory' (
Moscow Metallurgical Plant), while simultaneously studying at the State Institute of the Word (Institute of the Living Word). In 1925 he graduated from the directing department of the state experimental theatre workshops (Russian: ГОСТИМ, ГЭКТЕМАС). From 1926 to 1928 he was the artistic director of the Chita theatre (
Chita). In 1929–1930 he was the artistic director of the Turkmen theatre in
Ashgabat (later renamed the
Pushkin State Russian Drama Theatre). From 1931 to 1933 he was the artistic director of the Polish theatre in
Kyiv. On July 3, 1933, Skibnevsky was arrested and held in
Kievskoye Dobr together with 23 representatives of the
Polish intelligentsia on the fabricated
GPU (secret police) of the
Ukrainian SSR case of the POW (
Polska Organizacja Wojskowa:
Polish Military Organisation). On February 23, 1934, he was accused of
counterrevolutionary work among the Poles on behalf of Et. The troika of the GPU (secret police) of the Ukrainian SSR board sentenced him to five years under Articles 54–2, 54-II. Subsequently, the sentence was changed to
exile for 3 years. From 1940 to 1946 he was the artistic director of the State Russian Drama Theatre named after V. Korolenko in
Izhevsk. From 1946 to 1947 he was the chief director of the
Kirov Theatre, and from 1947 to 1949 he was the chief director of the Ulyanovsk Theatre (
Ulyanovsk). For ten years from 1949 to 1958 he was the chief director of the Yakub Kolas Drama Theatre,
Vitebsk. From 1958 to 1963 he was the chief director of the Pushkin Kharkov Russian Drama Theatre (
Kharkiv). From 1958, he taught directing at the Kharkiv Institute of Arts, and from 1962 headed the department of directing at the
Kharkiv State Academy of Culture. He was the author of numerous works on theatre issues, and wrote several plays and monographs. Skibnevsky died on April 20, 1978, in
Kharkiv, USSR. == Published works ==