September 22 was rainy in Gyumri, but the mood of Gyumri’s little ones was sunny.
The initiative of the ADL Shirak chapter’s “Panos Terlemezian” youth club became a reality: staging and printing the beautiful fairy-tale play “The Planet of Mimzi,” authored by club members Tatevik Petrosyan and Nadezhda Avetisyan, master’s students at the Gyumri branch of the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography.
The staging was also brought to life by the play’s authors, with their own artistic and musical design; the editor is Arsen Mikayelyan, an actor at Gyumri’s V. Achemyan Drama Theatre.
The book-fairy tale was illustrated in color by club member Ani Khachatryan.
The participants and performers of the presentation are 14 children aged 4-14 from Gyumri’s “Narek” theatre studio, under the direction of the stage directors and play’s authors.
The play has a moral and instructive significance. It is about a non-existent planet where only little ones live and they are responsible for the great phenomena occurring in the universe.
The play teaches how much strength there truly is in little ones, and how much each person can do to make the Planet a better place.
The premiere and the book-fairy tale’s presentation took place with great success in the hall of the Gyumri branch of the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography, where, of course, children sat in the front row.
The staging and printing of the fairy tale were carried out under the auspices of the ADL Republican Board.
Present at the event were the chairpersons and members of the ADL chapters of the USA, Australia, Jordan and Lebanon, with Central Board vice-chairman comrade Aleksan Karadanayan, and members of the ADL Republican Board, headed by chairman comrade Hrachya Karapetyan.
Before the event, members of the two boards — of the Diaspora and of Armenia — held a meeting and joint discussion at the ADL Shirak regional office regarding party matters, emphasizing the ADL’s unified and joint Diaspora-Armenia interactions and events. Representatives of both boards highly appreciated the importance of the day’s event and the efforts of the organizers.
The premiere-presentation passed in a warm atmosphere; the little audience and their adult companions applauded warmly and with flowers appreciated both the little artists and the play’s authors.
His high praise for the premiere and the children’s theatrical performance was also expressed by the event’s guest, Leonid Harutyunyan, long-time chief director of the Stepanakert and Shushi theatres, who has returned to his native city.
At the end of the event, the secretary of the ADL Republican Board, chairman of the Shirak chapter comrade Hovik Karapetyan, and the play’s stage directors delivered words of congratulations and gratitude addressed to the initiative’s authors and to their party for its sponsorship, and, of course, to our dear child performers.
The little participants of the event took with them the advice and admonitions of the inhabitants of “The Planet of Mimzi” and the coloring book of the play of the same name.
Anahit Hovsepyan
Chairwoman of the ADL Shirak chapter’s
“Panos Terlemezian” youth club
