Rostov State Puppet Theatre

Rostov State Puppet Theater is one of the oldest in the country. Its history began with a group of puppeteers, who had started to perform for children in 1920s. Among these puppeteers were: M. Kushnarenko, N. Smirnova, A. Dora, and others, and worked with such success, inspiration, and enthusiasm, that the Azov-Black Sea Regional Committee of Komsomol (Young Communist League) resolved to establish them as a puppet theater. The theater first opened its doors in 1935. Several generations of young spectators of the Don land grew up watching its performances, and to this day, as adults, bring their children and grandchildren to the theater as well.

Over the years, the puppet theater has been headed by numerous famous directors: Boris Sakhnovsky - student of Konstantin Stanislavsky, Leonid Stelmakhovich - student of Vsevolod Meyerhold.

For over 35 years the art director of the puppet theater was Vladimir Bylkov, student of Sergei Obraztsov.

The history of theater remembers all the actors at its origins: S. Isaeva, Merited Artist of Russia; M. Kushnarenko, her grand-daughter Elena successfully works in the theater today; S. Ulybashev, L. Chubkov, G. Pidko, A. Derkach, and many others. More than 5000 plays were staged in the history of the Rostov Puppet Theater.[2]

In the repertoire of the Rostov state puppet theater, there are such performances as "Turnip", "Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey wolf", Buzzy-Wuzzy Busy Fly, Teremok, "Maryyushka and the baba-yaga", "Fear Takes Molehills For Mountains", "Gold tea", "Pirate sweet tooth", "Little Mermaid", "A wolf and kids", Buratino, "Little Red Riding Hood" and many others.[1] Moreover, since 2016 work began on the Theatrical drawing room "Magic of a theatrical behind the scenes". It is the new project of the puppet theater in which the main objective is to show children and their parents the theater from within. These are informative meetings at which actors of theater tell everything about it, train them in actor's exercises and even allow guests to operate a real theatrical doll.

The present building of theater was built in the mid-sixties on the place of the destroyed Annunciation Greek Church that had been here since 1909 and converted to the children's technical station in the 1930s. Construction of the puppet theater was executed on the church base with partial use of the church walls that were kept at demolition.[3]