Given the current state of Polish education, with interest clubs and extracurricular activities having been abolished, rural children have few opportunities for self-fulfilment. This is the case in most villages in our voivodeship.
The situation is different in Kruszyna. Despite the difficulties, the Municipal Culture and Sports Centre decided to give talented children a chance. In cooperation with the headteacher of the Primary School, a Children’s Amateur Theatre was established in December last year and given the name “Bajka”. The instructor was the teacher Danuta Muniak.
The theatre group has 17 children from different age groups. They have been working for a short time, but effectively. They have already performed their programme many times. They have a fairly extensive repertoire, although they mainly work on adaptations of fairy tales. They consider their performance at the Voivodeship Review of Amateur Theatres “Prezentacje 92”, held on 30 April this year at the Bolesławiec Culture Centre, their greatest success. On that occasion, they performed the fairy tale “About the Terrible Dragon, the Brave Little Shoemaker, the Beautiful Princess and King Gwoździk”, based on the work of M. Kownacka.
The theatre instructor responsible for the review, Franciszek Rosa, who was present at the event, distinguished the theatre group from Kruszyna among the 17 other performances in the review. The prize was a television recording of the performance. It lasted quite a long time—two and a half hours. Everyone felt tired, but the satisfaction of their own success allowed them to forget about the fatigue. Perhaps that is why, during a short interview for JTVK, the children were happy and smiling. They answered the questions confidently.
The instructor also spoke, stressing that “... the children gain not only pleasure and satisfaction from their activities. They also learn a great deal, although they are not aware of it. They learn kindness towards one another, friendship, shared responsibility, healthy competition, and respect for their own work and that of others. These values will certainly bear fruit in their adult lives...”
Watching the group at work, one can see the great commitment of this small group of children. They would like to perform their plays for payment at other schools, so that they could raise funds to buy costumes and materials for props. The support of GOKiS, the school and the parents is considerable, but insufficient.
Congratulations to our young actors, and I wish them continued success.