Published since 07.2002
Published on July 04, 2008
PUPPET SHOW: A GROUP OF ENTHUSIASTS KEEP IDEA ALIVE WITHOUT A THEATRE
- The southern Armenian town of Kapan has a puppet troupe, but its fate is in limbo. The seven-member puppeteers perform only occasionally by invitation. They have no and no support. Nine years ago Vahe Arzumanyan opened this theater after coming across old threadbare puppets at one of the town clubs. He thought that the town lacked a puppet theatre (a popular attraction for Armenian children) and children didn’t even have any idea of what it was, so he decided to revive this genre of art. “I wanted to create a pleasant place for children. We recovered the old puppets, made some changes and added new ones. A group of amateurs was formed: none of us was a professional actor, we didn’t know the details of that art,” says Arzumanayn, a musician and public event organizer by profession. He wrote scripts based on fairy tales, adjusted the small hall at Regional art center and furnished it, made a screen and decorations and staged a test performance. Children welcomed the first performance with excitement, and the puppet theatre organizers made sure that the town did, indeed, need one. “Gradually we were refining our work, asking for feedback from children after each performance, and correcting imperfections noticed by them”, - recalls Arzumanyan. Adults used to come enjoy performances as well. The group also used to travel to distant schools for performances. They also learned the craft of puppet-making. Even then the theatre never received any assistance. “We worked on our own, with our own investment, defining a symbolic ticket price and all expenses for transportation, fabric for puppets and other things were fit into the income from tickets.” But, at least, at that time they had their own premise and performance hall. The theatre’s active life came to end about two years ago. The regional art center building was privatized by the municipality. And neither the art center nor the theatre has been allocated a premise, despite promises. But Arzumanyan still keeps the puppets, actors and their repertoire. Besides staging he also takes part in the performances. From time to time they are invited to participate in town or regional events; however, they do not have a permanent place for rehearsals or preparation of new plays. “Say, they call and invite from a village, saying they need us very much, it’d be great if the village children could see a puppet theatre. But, without a sponsor, if we calculate our expenses, tickets would have to be so expensive that will, surely, not be affordable to village children,” Arzumanyan says. Arzumanyan is now working at Kapan’s educational center for special needs children, training future puppet theatre actors. Children stage performances there once or twice a year.
- Armine Avagyan
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Today in Armenian history- 1762 The first publication of Yeznik Koghbatsi's "Yeghts Aghandots" by the Markos Publishing House, in Smyrna.
- 1818 The inhabitants of Zeytoon (Western Armenia) rebel against the exactions of the Pasha of Marash.
- 1823 Birth of Grigor Aghatonyan in Constantinople. He died in 1868.
- 1839 Death of Papa Hambardzoomian, composer and author of Armenian phonographs.
- 1847 Death of Hakob Chelepi Tyoozian, the imperial goldsmith. The "Europe" periodical was published by his initiative. He was born on 1793 01 03.
- 1902 International Meeting of Patriots takes place in Brussels. French public-political figure Jean Jaures (amongst others) devotes his speech to the Armenian Cause.
- 1902 An International Conference on the Armenian Question takes place in Brussels.
- 1908 Death of Armenian writer Missak Metsarents. He was born in 1886.
- 1930 Birth of Mher Mkrtchyan (actor). He died in 1993.
- 1992 Artsakh forces leave Martakert (Artsakh).
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