On Sunday, April 21, the Pokrovsky Theater, operating under the Tomsk Catholic community, presented to the public its premiere performance “The story of the prophet Jonah”
The author of the script and director of the play is Father Hovsep Meliksetyan SJ; Olesya Shumskaya became his assistant in organizing the theater project. Local parishioners were used as actors: mainly parents, whose children attend catechesis classes after Sunday services. Representatives of the older generation, as well as young people (including foreign students) and very young parishioners also took part. In total, 24 performers were on stage, six of whom were children.
The main role – the prophet Jonah – went to 70-year-old active parishioner Stanislav Dorabiallo. And eleven more children accompanied the stage performance by reading poems.
The experience of working on a theatrical production has shown that this is not only a union of parishioners of different ages (from young to old), but also a kind of mass catechesis .
Not only dialogues from the Holy Scriptures were heard on stage. There was also a modern interpretation of biblical paintings, which intricately combined sublime spirituality and light satire.
Songs were sung and poetic texts were read. And there was also difficult, serious work done on the production of complex decorations: a large wooden whale, stuffed animals, as well as the rich use of various fabrics. As part of their participation in the production process, the children hardworkingly cut out small figures of whales and diligently learned the lyrics of songs and poems. The finale of the performance was the choral performance of the famous song “Hallelujah” by Leonardo Cohen.
The spectators at the premiere were not only Catholics, but also everyone. And the long applause at the end of the performance spoke for itself.
We hope that a good tradition “Pokrovsky Theater» staging a performance every year after Easter will stick for many years!
Alina Baginskaya
Tags: Story Prophet Jonah parish theater Catholic community Tomsk PHOTOS Novosibirsk
 | 04/26/2024 | Novosibirsk){kind=link}