CULTURAL ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF THE CHILDREN’S EXEMPLARY THEATER STUDIO "HARLEQUIN" (LYSYCHANSK): THE PATH FROM THE SCHOOL THEATER TO THE DRAMA SCHOOL

Abstract

Recently, interest in children’s theater has been growing. Theater as a means of personality formation occupies one of the first places among other types of children’s creativity, for children it is a source of information about the world around them and the laws of life, it makes children’s think about the meaning of human existence and the depths of the human soul. In the article, the author analyzes her own experience in the school theater, and then at the children’s theater studio, formulates the stages of creation and success of the Harlequin studio. At the beginning of the creation of the team, the task of the manager was to unite schoolchildren through a theater circle to develop the creative abilities of the individual, but subsequently spreading her knowledge, skills and personal experience, she expands the work with children, complementing the master classes of outstanding theater specialists, inviting actors and directors, psychologists and practicing coach. After 2014, enrollment in the studio begins at the age of three. The educational process is changing. If earlier the goal of the school theater was a high-quality production of the play, then later the education and development of the child becomes the essence of the children’s theater, the quality of the preparation process not so much of each play as of each member of studio – not only as a creative individual, but also as a person capable of culturе-creation. The proposed training forms an idea of the specifics of theatrical art, helps to understand and evaluate their own capabilities in this area, it provides conditions for the education and development of artistic taste through the development of various layers of human culture. Professional teachers are involved in the studio. Training is divided into three stages (in the junior, middle, senior groups). The focus is on every child. In addition to the main subjects (acting, stage movement, stage speech), the work of famous actors, directors, playwrights is discussed in the classroom, the history of theater and costumes, the meaning of scenery are studied; studios learn vocals, choreography, art. In practical classes, children themselves develop costumes and scenery for performances. Over time, it is clear that the development of a creative child can be carried out through widespread learning of art, because theater is a synthesis of many arts. Thanks to this, theatrical art acts as a kind of model of a single artistic palette, and involvement in it through a theater studio – a kind of “cultural creation workshop”.