Puppet theatre as a regional cultural heritage of Kuban

This paper is devoted to one of the aspects of the rich cultural and theatrical life of Kuban – a retrospective of the regional puppet theater and its subsidiary theater – the New Puppet Theater, which constitute an important region cultural heritage. The methodological basis of the study is presented. The authors give a historiographical review of the sources and literature available in circulation on the origin and development of the theatrical space in the city of Yekaterinodar-Krasnodar, starting from the 19th century. In addition, they build a chronological sequence of development as well as note the main stages contributing to the formation of the theatrical heritage of the capital of the region. The paper describes the contribution to the theater development of the future children’s writer S.Ya. Marshak within the framework of his activities in the regional capital of Krasnodar (the reasons for which Soviet literature kept silent about this period of his activity for a long time are indicated). The hypothesis includes the idea of the first performance that began the history of the puppet theater in Krasnodar. The gap in the encyclopedic literature on art in the section on the history of children’s theaters and puppet theaters in particular where the Krasnodar children’s theater is not indicated as one of the first in the Soviet country is emphasized. The significance of the puppet theater in the process of educating the younger generation and forming a system of spiritual and moral values is determined. Promising innovative development directions of the modern puppet theater and their role in the cultural environment development of the region are presented. Interviews of theater workers, actors, artists and spectators were conducted, the main patterns and features of theatrical art were identified. The authors also introduce memories of old-timers and interviews with theater actors into scientific circulation.