Theater for Kids (all ages)
Ignite Your Child’s Imagination!
Discover the magic of theater with us! Our program offers a fun and engaging environment for kids of all ages to explore their creativity and build confidence.
What we offer:
- Russian through Theater: Learn Russian while having fun!
- Flexible Schedule: We work around your busy life. We already have groups on Saturdays from 12 to 1:15 pm and Sunday at 11 am.
- Diverse Experiences: From readings and performances to dance, music, art, and costume design.
- Expert Guidance: Taught by the talented Victoria Juharyan, a renowned educator and theater artist.
Victoria Juharyan is a dynamic educator and a theater artist, who brings her love of languages and storytelling to life in the classroom and beyond. Victoria’s deep understanding of Slavic cultures and world literature and philosophy enriches her teaching approach. Her dedication to teaching and commitment to student success has been evident in her engaging classes and performances.
Currently, a Senior Lecturer of Russian at Johns Hopkins University, Victoria is working on adapting Dostoevsky’s unfinished novel Netochka Nezvanova for stage as a play with musical instruments that gradually becomes an opera, as the title character
discovers her soprano voice.
To read more
Theater has been an important part of Victoria’s childhood as well as her impressive
academic career. When growing up in Armenia, she acted in Hovhannes
Tumanian’s “The Death of Kikos” and staged countless poetry performances in her
school.
Victoria holds a Red Specialist Diploma in Journalism and Literary Editing from Saint-
Petersburg State University in Russia as well as an M.A. in Comparative Literature from
Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Princeton
University.
During her M.A. program in Comparative Literature at Dartmouth, with Professor
Victoria Somoff, Victoria started a Russian theater group titled “Uncle Vanya on the
Green.” One of their most successful productions was Gogol’s “Marriage.” They also
staged student rewritings of Vasility Shukshin short stories for the stage. Victoria also
did linguistic training of actors for the Theater Department for a play titled “Russian
Romance” about a newly discovered fictional gulag writer akin to Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn.
At Princeton, Victoria participated in the stage readings of Ivan Viripayev’s play “Illusions”
as part of a conference titled “Literary Theatricality. Theatrical Text.” Victoria is
generally interested in adaptations of classics for stage and screen. She also staged and
performed Russian Poetry at the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for two seasons.
When teaching at the Middlebury Summer School, Victoria acted in two plays staged by
celebrated Moscow directors Sergei Kokovkin and Anna Rodionova: Anton Chekhov’s
“The Seagull” and Vyacheslav Kireev’s “The Last Bell.” Due to this work, she was invited
to give conference talks on the use of theater in language pedagogy. Last year, she taught
a class on Russian Theater at UC Davis and supervised the writing of several new plays
in her classes.
With a native fluency in Russian and a rich academic background, Victoria has
demonstrated expertise that extends beyond languages and to the world of performance.
She has a proven ability to inspire students of all ages through the magic of theater while
simultaneously enhancing their language skills.
Through her theater program, students develop confidence, critical thinking, and a
lifelong appreciation for the arts. Whether you’re a young actor or simply looking to
explore the Russian language in an entertaining and engaging way, Victoria’s theater
program offers a unique and rewarding experience.
Join us today and watch your child shine!
Contact us via email or phone for more information.