Piano for inclusive theater studio

The inclusive theater studio of the Khalabuda teen hub, where about 20 teenagers engage in theatrical creativity, most of whom have various forms of disabilities, is a project implemented by the Public Organization "Kharkiv Foundation for Psychological Research".

Our hub has been officially operating since 2018, the project leader is Natalia Shevchenko, (psychologist, playback practitioner, hospital clown), who since 2016 has been conducting playback theater classes with teenagers in our organization in the teenage playback theater "Roads"

The hub holds classes for teenagers that help them communicate, engage in creativity and encourage their development - art therapy, communication games, board games, sketching, playback theater and English, the hub also provides consultations with psychologists (all classes are free). Since 2020, we have started inclusive studio classes in the hub, where we engage in various forms of theatrical art, not just improvisational playback theater.

The initiator of these classes was our correctional teacher Natalia Fedak, and her fairy tale "The Colored Kitten" became the first work we staged. Irina Avdieieva (performer and hospital clown) also works with teenagers on choreography and stage movement, along with music therapists Oksana Lebedynska and Alexandra Avanesyan.

Thanks to the hub classes, teenagers and youth with intellectual disabilities not only develop, they have the opportunity to significantly expand their circle of communication, improve their communication skills, realize their talents on stage, and feel like an important part of society.

In the first six months, we created the play "The Colored Kitten," which we were able to show to a wide audience, primarily children, on a big stage. We continue to work on this fairy tale and are beginning work on a new play aimed more at teenagers who are peers of our actors. The play will be created through research and creative laboratories, musical, choreographic, playback theater performances, involving students and teenagers currently engaged in other activities.

To conduct full vocal-choral, musical and choreographic classes and laboratories, to work on the new play, we need a professional musical instrument, namely an electronic piano.

Thanks to the piano, teachers will be able to adapt to the characteristics of actors with intellectual and physical disabilities - peculiarities of rhythm and pitch perception, movement speed, etc.

Some actors in our studio are already learning to play piano, so we plan to include them as musicians in the new play. A professional instrument will also provide the opportunity to create full original musical accompaniment for the play.

We chose the Yamaha NP-32B model because its characteristics are sufficient for professional work, this model is quite mobile, and we can use it on location, it can work without electricity on batteries, and has a relatively low price.

So far, inclusive theatrical art is just beginning to develop in Ukraine, in our city there are almost no studios where teenagers with disabilities could engage in theatrical creativity. We are confident that having a professional instrument will take teenagers' creativity to a higher level, help us create a new great play together that will be interesting to many viewers, teenagers and adults, and promote inclusive art in Kharkiv.