1. From the distance of time, what path has your theater taken in artistic terms?
2. What are you battling today?
3. How and where do you see the Bulgarian puppet theater (and in particular, the one you manage) in the next 5 years?

Marina Kungelova, director of the Blagoevgrad Puppet Theater

1. Like all theaters, ours has had periods of rise and fall. It was all extremely difficult due to the transferring of responsibility from the Municipality to the Ministry of Culture and vice versa, neglect, absurd working conditions and poorly judged cast on many instances over the years. It was hard and unsupported between 1976 and 2017.
2. Today’s battle is to be able to raise the bar we have set for ourselves as high as possible. Now, in 2021, we are nominated for the Icarus Award for an overall performance for Garvin the Wizard – we are going in the right direction.
3. If we fight the epidemic that has struck us so ominously, we will be looking for more innovative puppet solutions, new titles and talented people dedicated to making theater.

Hristina Arsenova, director of the State Puppet Theater – Burgas

1. State puppet Theatre-Burgas has established itself in the minds of citizens of Burgas as a place widely known and loved by children and parents and is an integral part of their celebrations. Being recognizable and highly valued by our audience – this is what excites us. ‘Your children’s favorite theater,’ is the slogan of the theater. Our performances carry our spirit and reflect our attitude towards the audience, i.e. how we understand our responsibility to children, how we work to form their initial aesthetic taste and their sense of beauty. Puppet theater has unique opportunities in this direction, so our criteria for choosing a repertoire and the means for its implementation are very high. State puppet Theatre-Burgas is the theater with the richest current repertoire – 52 titles. Great genre diversity, a wide range of means of expression and performances aimed at different age groups. This is our wealth.
2. Adapting to the new situation with Covid-19 forced us to increase our activity in terms of social networks, video sharing platforms and our outdoor performances, which in practice differs from our regular activities. We strive to keep the interest of our audience, to be actively present in the cultural calendar of the city and at national level; to strengthen our position on the market for cultural content, as well as to establish new audiences for our theatrical product.
3. State puppet Theatre-Burgas is among the leading theaters in Bulgaria. Great acting team, quality performances, numerous awards, recognition of colleagues, unceasing interest of the audience at home and abroad, high professionalism and dedication – this is the profile of the most poetic Bulgarian puppet theater – the Burgas Puppet Theater.

Vera Stoykova, director of the State Puppet Theater Varna

1. State Puppet Theater Varna is a theater with over 67 years of history, with outstanding contribution to the development of Bulgarian puppetry and widely popular and respected both at home and abroad. For the State Puppet Theater Varna to be what it is today, generations have contributed with their work and professionalism. This is a theater with a unique creative atmosphere, which cultivates and creates its own staff.

At present, the theater has a modern material and technical equipment, a mobile, highly professional troupe, well-equipped technical services and studios and operational administrative management of experienced professionals.

The flow of spectators and the interest in the repertoire titles of the theater obliges the management and the creative team to create modern, interesting and diverse performances aimed at different age groups – the youngest, high school students and older spectators. This policy of the theater is extremely successful among the audience, which is expanding with each passing year. As the most important part of the creative search are the artistic qualities of each new performance. To accomplish this task, the theater attracts production teams of prominent artists, who pose new challenges to the actors with each of their pieces. The creative staff of the theater is constantly renewed with young people who find a natural environment for professional development.

2. The changed conditions in which we have to work, but I prefer not to define it as a battle, but as overcoming obstacles that usually lead to new ideas and discovering new opportunities. I do not believe in smooth sailing, because it leads to sinking into the routine of the known and the predictable. I fully trust the team I work with on an administrative, technical and creative level.
3. The Bulgarian Puppet Theater, as always, is in the hands of its creators and artists who are professionally engaged in puppet theater in state, municipal theaters or private troupes. Much of the future of this art in Bulgaria is laid in the new generations of artists – graduates of the puppet school at Krastyo Sarafov NATFA.

The theater, which I am fortunate to manage, I see as one that has kept its position on its own, national and international stage. This is enshrined in our future projects and plans, some of which are already being implemented.

Pavlinka Trifonova, director of the Vidin State Puppet Theater

1. The main emphasis of our theater’s work is diversity in searching for and discovering new artists and titles; in experimenting with different means of expression; in the enrichment of themes (from classical fairy tales to modern drama); in expanding the age range of the audience (apart from the traditional children’s and adult audience, the focus is on the teenage audience); in the pursuit of aesthetics, which corresponds to the worldview of the modern spectator.
2. The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting framework in which we have to work. Concern for the health of colleagues, refusal to participate in festivals , co-productions and international events.
3. It is worrying how the pandemic will affect the performing arts in general. How the coming economic crisis will affect theater goers. To what extent will young artists continue to show interest in puppetry. Our efforts will continue to be focused on upholding high professionalism and preserving the original puppet theatre art.

Vesselin Mezekliev, director of Vratsa Drama and Puppet Theater

1. It turned out to be the younger brother.
2. Expansion and rejuvenating of the puppet troupe.
3. Conquering a worthy place on the professional puppet scene in Bulgaria.

Alfidin Ahmedov, director of Gabrovo State Puppet Theater

1. Created by Nikolay Kolev, in its 50-year history, the Gabrovo State Puppet Theater has established itself as a pillar of the classical type of puppetry. Far from the boulevard and square challenges of the time, it has preserved the fabulous theater of magic in his troupe and perfected itself in today’s increasingly heterogeneous theater. With the inherent modesty and dedicated continuity of the true artist, the troupe of Gabrovo State Puppet Theater preserves the traditions and customs of the artists who have worthily built the artistic image of the theater over the years. Today, based on what has been achieved, the theater develops with its own style and repertoire policy, constantly looking at the contemporary styles and challenges on the world stage.
2. Directors feel more and more obliged to gain the creative freedom of their troupe. Freedom not only economically, but above all spiritually. Today’s challenges in market and creative terms give us more reason to look into the deep meaning of the trinity – Puppet, Artist, Audience. The dogmas of the art called Puppet Theater should not lose their uniqueness, characterizing each theatrical troupe. Being able to preserve them in the fight against competition with the digital world, we will withstand the challenges of modern communication between puppet theater and the child customer – spectator and his dynamic parent. The family empathy of the puppet show in the comfort of the theater hall is an intimate moment spent in the puppet theaters, leaving a mark in people’s minds for a lifetime. The live speech said from the stage, together with all theatrical components and props, must withstand the challenges of the new generation and the obstacles set by the times.
3. The Bulgarian puppet theater and its creators of all generations have always been curious about world trends. Today, our country even dictates its innovation and development through Krastyo Sarafov NATFA and professional troupes operating in Bulgaria. At the same time, it creates a growing circle of reference audiences, which is its direct investment in creating and cultivating a potential one. Through its methods and sincerity, puppet theater provokes in its followers and connoisseurs more and more support, not only in socio-economic aspects, but especially in the spiritual. It is unacceptable that puppetry will forget its traditions and techniques in its pursuit of perfection in the future. It should not and must not become a deeply elite art of the 21st century, it is only necessary for it to be taken care of by its creators and professionals behind the scenes, without whom it could not exist in any of its known manifestations.

Petar Petkov, director of Dora Gabe Dobrich State Puppet Theater

1. We try to preserve the original Bulgarian style in the puppet theater but not missing on the opportunities offered by the continuous technical development.
2. Preservation and development of the achieved, to reach more spectators. Constant search for new forms when presenting the finished product.
3. Starting with the traditions, by detachment from the temporary difficulties (COVID-19), we must go only forward and upward.

Vasil Vassilev, director of Ivan Radoev Drama and Puppet Theater, Pleven

1. Ivan Radoev Drama and Puppet Theater is a continuation of the rich history of the Pleven State Puppet Theater, which over the years has occupied a significant place in the puppet theater space with impressive and memorable creative achievements. That is why today our theater cannot afford compromises regarding the aesthetic value of its production.
2. We always try to be adequate to the time, to the changing theatrical tastes. It is a natural process for innovative technological means, experimental forms and innovative ideas to enter the art of puppetry more and more actively, but this should not be at the expense of the traditional communication between the actor and the puppet.
3. Puppet theater has a special and responsible mission – to educate future spectators with aesthetic taste and constant curiosity about theatrical art through its magical language.

Petar Vlaykov, director of the State Puppet Theater – Plovdiv

1. Since its foundation State Puppet Theater – Plovdiv sets high standards in the field of puppetry. Having started its way as a puppet theater with a repertoire for children’s audiences, the theater is currently performing for a wide audience. The performances for children, as well as those for teenagers and adults, are very successful both in the country and abroad and continue the tradition of Bulgarian puppetry. The most prominent puppeteers in the country, who develop the puppet-theatrical language and reveal its inexhaustible possibilities, have created and are creating on the stage of the theater. The festival “Three are too many, two – not enough” and the TheatAir module open the doors for international exchange between artists and institutions, as well as for street arts and performances.
2. The battle not only of the theaters, but also of all artists who deal with the performing arts in their entire palette of genres and forms, is to preserve the value of live communication. What the virus hit the hardest was not a specific economic sector, but the stigmatization of entire modalities of communication as impossible and forbidden. The struggle today will be to belittle, make ridiculous and funny the Monster in the closet; without forgetting our public engagement. I think self-irony is a major weapon in returning to some conditional normality. The mission of artists is not to close the doors but to continue to present different points of view, to fantasize and to amaze with fantasy, because the dreaming man, the acting man, the laughing man, is not afraid. And responsibility, in any shape or color, is uncharacteristic of fear.
3. It seems to me that more and more the school, as an educational institution and the theater, as a cultural one, are beginning to find their parallels. Alternative forms of education provoke wider interest, Montessori is no longer an unknown, strange word. I dream that theater, especially children’s theater, with its natural function to ennoble, expand the general culture, develop the imagination and explore different points of view on various problems with the means of play and provocation of fantasy would become an integral part of the educational process, supplementing and enriching it with the prism of the practical application of the acquired information, thus turning knowledge into skills and dry information – into a raw material for breaking and modeling non-standard but feasible ideas. Puppet Theater – Plovdiv has set goals in addition to offering Bulgarian artists a field for bold experiments in the genre search and the variety of theatrical means and forms, to form a high artistic and aesthetic taste in its young audience.

Temenuga Haralanova, director of Ruse State Puppet Theater

1. Over the years, the Ruse State Puppet Theater has established itself as one of the leading theaters in the country. It conquered new international stages and won many awards and recognitions. The precise selection of the repertoire and its realization is the main credo of the theater. Our constant pursuit of creativity, innovation and search for new forms leads us to create modern, innovative, interactive performances that are aimed not only at children, but also at the adult audience.
2. Puppet theater has the ability to entertain instructively and instruct entertainingly, which makes it vital. A show is a mirror of our attitude towards the spectator and how we educate him, form and affirm his ideas of good and evil, beautiful and ugly – what we call morality, aesthetics, worldview. Despite the changing and uncertain situation provoked by the world pandemic, our duty and mission as a cultural institution is to continue to maintain the spirit of the people, to firmly and with dignity defend our place here and now despite the difficulties.
3. I envisage persistent pursuit of our long-term strategy aimed at continuing the sustainable development of the theater. I will continue to work to maintain a high image and establish the worthy place of Ruse State Puppet Theater on a regional, national and international level.

Zlatina Staneva, director of Silistra Drama and Puppet Theater

1. Silistra Drama and Puppet Theater realizes titles for children and adults. The main emphasis in the repertoire for adults is staging Balkan drama and in particular Bulgarian classical drama. In the children’s aspect it realizes performances of classical drama for children, contemporary Bulgarian drama, educational performances and holiday-themed performances. The path of theatrical art has always been characterised with known and unknown difficulties, but with the incredible efforts of the whole team they were overcome in time and today we are proud to be the TEAM of the Silistra Theater.
2. To preserve the status of the theater as a state professional cultural institute and to pass it on to the generations.
3. My wish is that in 5 years puppet theater is a priority of culture, education and social policy. Puppet theater builds personalities, educates values ​​and teaches correct Bulgarian speech. This must be understood at a high state level in order for it to take its rightful place in the development of the Bulgarian nation.

Efimia Pavlova, director of the State Puppet Theater – Sliven

1. In 2021 the Sliven Puppet Theater celebrates its 60th anniversary. Each of these years is full of creativity, difficulties, but also satisfaction. The theater defends the idea with which it was created – namely to realize performances of high artistic value for children, adolescents and adults, with which to introduce them to the magical world of puppet theater and in this way to instruct and educate them in spiritual values, to entertain them, to become a necessity for parents in communicating with children and for teachers in the learning process.
2. In the last almost 30 years, the main battle of the Sliven Puppet Theater is related to the negotiations for a new building, after in 1993 it lost ownership of its own, opened in 1989 for the 25th anniversary. Due to the lack of its own space, the theater has been deprived of many opportunities to hold events of different nature, to expand the range of activities and performances. The battle now is to preserve the theater as an institution, to preserve the team and the cast. Due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the activity of the theater is significantly reduced compared to previous years. The audience of the puppet theater is mainly children and the main concern is that due to the measures taken to control COVID-19, it is increasingly difficult for them to enter the hall and fears are that it will be even harder to attract children to come to indoor performances.
3. Our hope is that in the near future we will overcome the crisis caused by the pandemic and we will have the opportunity to fully continue to follow the mission of the theater and to develop.

Petar Todorov, director of Pro Rodopi Art Center

1. Pro Rodopi Art Center has come a long way in the years since its foundation in 2004 and has managed to create its own image, distinguished by quality, innovation and recognizable style. The troupe is constantly looking for opportunities to expand the boundaries of puppetry and find modern means of expression to correspond to modern audiences. Vision, imagery and action are the main qualities of our production. When defining the genre of our performances, we often choose the wording “visual physical theater” instead of “puppet theater” because we believe that it corresponds more precisely to the form of performances and provokes the audience not to identify puppet theater only with children’s audiences. For more than 16 years, the Pro Rodopi Art Center has produced performances, each of which has had a long and successful life, and has enjoyed good communication with different age groups. Anatomy of the Extreme, Chick With a Trick, Delta, I, the Soul, Hair, Plums for Garbage, Ball parts 1 and 2, Yellow and The Concert are performances, which, as a genre definition, are located in the area between pure “physical theater” and “puppet theater”. Five of the listed productions continue to be played to this day.
2. The battle of an independent professional troupe, whose task is to not simply survive and make a living, but whose goals are highly artistic performances and new searches in the theatrical-puppet language, has always been to secure project funding and access to stages. There is funding from the state and municipalities, but it is insufficient, and the vast majority of the stages are occupied by state or municipal theaters, which have their own troupe with a repertoire, and the admission of independent productions to the stages is not a priority. Our international contacts and cooperation have always been extremely important for our sustainability over the years. However, this requires the troupe to maintain consistently high quality and for our repertoire to be convertible.
3. My hope is that the Ministry of Culture will change its policy on independent troupes in Bulgaria and will start regularly supporting the private sector in culture through one-year programs, which is being piloted this year. This will give resilience to the troupes and allow planning and riskier projects that lead to searches and experiments in new forms and expanding the boundaries of puppetry, which is so important for its development. In addition, I hope that the state and municipal puppet theaters will start working in much closer cooperation with the independent troupes. This is a process that enriches both parties by ensuring the diversification of the repertoire of state theaters and expanding the field of activity of private ones. I expect that in 5 years the Bulgarian puppet theater will be bolder in its goals, more modern in its means of expression, more diverse in its repertoire and more theaters will have developed an audience for adult puppet theater.

Valentina Germanova, director of NATFA Theater

1. From the distance of time, NATFA Theater goes its way quickly, renewing and evolving every day.
2. What we strive for are motivated students and teachers!
3. In the next five years, I believe we will raise the bar for the learning and creative process even higher.

Ivan Raykov, director of the Sofia Puppet Theater

1. The artistic production of the theater has explored every genre and style – from puppet miniature, musical fairy tale, pantomime, shadow theater, comedy, satire, grotesque to musical. The troupe has won the love and loyalty of its audience, along with numerous national and international awards, building a reputation as a theater with high artistic and professional achievements.
2. The main “battle”, if my work at the theater can be called like this at all, is to preserve the high artistic level achieved over the years, the national and international prestige and to find a balance between tradition and modernity; striving to preserve and develop the creative potential of the troupe.
3. The Bulgarian Puppet Theater has gained significant international prestige, while at the same time zealously defending creative freedom and imagination. I really hope that despite the obstacles along the way, what has been achieved will be preserved and built upon.

Darin Petkov, director of the State Puppet Theater – Stara Zagora

1. There are two principles in the basis of the activity of the State Puppet Theater – Stara Zagora, which distinguish it from the others and form his distinctive competence: the first of them is the collective creative spirit, which turns everyone in the whirlwind of the theatrical process and gives meaning and significance to everyone’s efforts. The second principle is that the theater should not only be a machine for satisfying certain spectator needs, but also a cultural institute for creative contacts, a place for searching, experimenting and establishing new ideas and trends in art, a temple for sheltering those thirsty for spirituality.

The Stara Zagora Puppet Theater is a leading cultural institute in Bulgaria, the creative team of which lives not only with the present, but also with the future of its art. We, who work at the Puppet Theater – Stara Zagora, are trying to maintain it as a temple of the spirit, the positive and a place for the future. We follow the trend for a balanced repertoire – classical works, musicals, movement theater, site theater, theater in the “classroom”, Bulgarian folk art, new Bulgarian drama, experimental forms, educational programs, interactive performances and performances for adults. The work and production diversity is a leading advantage and incentive in the organization. The troupe works with various production teams, differing in nationality, age and artistic aesthetics. The created performances are marked by a variety of means of expression and cover a wide range of theatrical forms – monodramas, mobile productions, large-scale performances on a professionally equipped stage, educational performances, entertainment and game show programs and more.

In recent years, the model of production management, through total quality, has established itself as a successful tool for competitiveness. Characteristic of this model are the focus on building the viewer’s taste, the orientation by reporting the results, the balanced attitude towards the stakeholders, continuous improvement, partnership and above all – a new type of production teams, capable of developing and using the troupe’s potential. The theater has built an emotional connection with its spectators and partners – an emotional bank of trust in which each party feels well accepted, meaningful and valued. Understanding the complex relationships between results and satisfaction, motivation, loyalty and a sense of belonging to stakeholders is a must.

2. Preserving the unique identity of the Stara Zagora Puppet Theater and the collective spirit; striving to be adequate to the trends and to stimulate the development of the world puppet art. To cultivate the taste of the spectator and arouse his need to meet the live performing arts
3. What we see is not what we dream of… We have the strength and courage to fight for the realization of our dreams: to turn the cultural institute, i.e. State Puppet Theater Stara Zagora, into a powerful spiritual center, combining art, education and experiment with high artistic aesthetics.

Rusan Stamenov, director of Targovishte State Puppet Theater

1. For more than 50 years in its creative path, the theater has been inextricably pursuing its goal – to educate the youngest part of our society – the children through its art, which has won certain positions in the cultural life of the city. From the day of the first premiere until now, many works by the best authors of contemporary puppet drama, from national folklore and masterpieces of world literature for children and adolescents have been presented. There is a wide variety of genres, as well as the range of expressions and means used: from a pure puppet show behind a screen, puppet pantomime, musical, live performances in a variety show, and in purely dramatic performance. Over the years, many guest artists have been invited – directors, musicians and artists. The theater constantly maintains a repertoire with many titles, including productions that will attract spectators to the hall.
2. Like all other systems in our world, stage institutes are in a state of constant change: they change their focus, expand their activities, change their products to meet the needs of their audiences. The factors that require change are the challenges of the growth of the entire theater network, the changing economic situation, the pressure of competitors, the expectations and attitudes of the audience.
3. In the next five years, I suppose, we will face serious problems related to the pandemic and the financial crisis that will follow. Against the background of total uncertainty, it is difficult to see what will happen to the theater in the next five months, and in the next five years – God help us!

Stelian Nikolov, director of Ivan Dimov Haskovo Drama and Puppet Theater – Haskovo

1. Ivan Dimov Haskovo Drama and Puppet Theater has a long history and over the years some of the biggest names in the Bulgarian theater have worked here and for this reason it has always occupied a notable place in the Bulgarian cultural space and is an integral part of the development of theater in Bulgaria. The theater has a rich repertoire of performances with different goals and different target groups of spectators. These are performances developed on the basis of great genre and style diversity: comedy del arte, drama, melodrama, etc., made with high professionalism and good taste, with perfect artists and serious investments. We also create provocative performances, dealing with new forms and new searches that touch the sensitive human spirit. This provokes people’s thoughts and consciousness, which makes them rediscover themselves through theater.
2. Our battle in these difficult times is to preserve what has been achieved so far. To become part of people’s lives again, to be trusted again, so that we can develop our souls together.
3. I believe that puppet theater in Bulgaria will continue to develop at the same good pace and will be, as always, world class. In particular, I hope that the puppet theater of Haskovo will be well represented on the theater map in the country – to be recognizable and a standard for good taste.

Dimitar Dimitrov, director of Vasil Drumev Shumen Drama and Puppet Theater – Shumen

1. The path is not complete, but it is correct. Our presence at national and international festivals is extremely important. The public response that follows our participation in these formats is a sign that there is a production that makes sense. The performances show us that we have found the right path in terms of aesthetics and meaning.
2. Upholding the creative and aesthetic criteria in extreme situations. The Shumen theater has its own style, part of which is the realization of Bulgarian drama on stage, and which we try to defend.
3. In its place – with its audience.

Elena Doycheva, Director of the Puppet Theater “Georgi Mitev – Joro” , Yambol

1. Puppet Theater “Georgi Mitev”, Yambol, is a kind of cultural center for spiritual growth of young people, giving them the opportunity to access the aesthetics of theatrical art. The theater has proven and is proving its influence on adolescents, children who live and are brought up at home, in schools and theater. The theater gives them another life. The wisdom of the time is hidden in the tale. It is a pride that the theater has managed to go through all the vicissitudes of time. Today it is among the first puppet theaters in Bulgaria with established fame at home and abroad. The theater’s production has been exported far beyond the borders of the country – Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Japan, Sweden, Russia, Hungary, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Serbia and Romania, where it receives high recognition for its art.
2. Today the battle is to defend the theater as a state institution. This means a better program for the creative development of the theater, better financial support for the development and improvement of the well-being of theater workers, better strategy and policy for managing the overall creative process and improving the material and technical equipment and working conditions.
3. I see the Bulgarian puppet theater among the leading theaters in Europe and the world, as it was in past. I see Georgi Mitev State Puppet Theater, Yambol continuing to prove and defend its position as a leading cultural institute of national importance. With its diverse reform policy, repertoire, management program, with the provocation to the spectator and the market of the theatrical product in the country and abroad. We must preserve the theater as an institution and the theater system as a whole, because it is a living organism. It is an example for all theatergoers in the Balkans and Europe. We must succeed and prove ourselves as a bridge in time.