A New Year’s Celebration for Children
with special needs

On 23 December 2003 the Hermitage Theater was the venue for a New Year’s celebration in which both actors and audience were children with special needs who are studying in special schools. Three schools took part in a colorful theatrical program. Each presented a short Christmas show. ‘A Winter’s Tale’, staged by one school, featured main characters from Western European fairy tales: the good fairy of the forest and her dwarfs, evil witches casting spells. Another school presented a bright, merry show based on N.V. Gogol’s Christmas tale: "The Night Before Christmas". Despite the fact that many of the children have impaired memory, they gave a wonderful rendering of folk songs in Ukrainian. And as is customary in Christmas shows, good triumphed over evil. The shows were outstanding in the originality of scripts, beautiful stagings and costumes, all of which were created by teachers in these schools. At the end of the event all the children received presents.

The sponsor of the celebration was Baker & McKenzie.

Young Performers of Songs in Ukrainian

N.V. Gogol’s "Night Before Christmas" on the Stage of the Hermitage Theater

Performers in the Show "A Winter’s Tale"