Rivne Regional Academic Puppet Theater started its history in October 1975. The first director of the theatre was an experienced artist Andriy Semenenko. In 1979 the theatre got the building where it was and is still housed. Within the whole period of its activity the theatre staged more than 150 performances.

The following famous directors directed plays in the theatre: Voiodymyr Dolhopolov (Honoured Art Worker of Russia), Anatoliy Rodenko, Vitaliy Klymchuk (Honoured Art Worker of Belarus), Borys Azarov (Honoured Art Worker of Ukraine), Yaroslav Hmshetskyy, Serhiy Yefremov (People's Artist of Ukraine), Anatoliy Polyak (Honoured Artist of Ukraine), Voiodymyr Pidtserkovnyy, Leonid Popov (Honoured Artist of Ukraine), Serhiy Bryzhan, Oleksandr Inozemtsev.

The theatre is a laureate, a prize and award winner of many international festivals. The actors of the theatre were being applauded by the spectators of Poland, Hungary, Finland, Serbia, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Trie theatre won its greatest recognition thanks to the play "Christmas Night" directed by Serhiy Bryzhan on the basis of the folk performance of Vertep. This play was shown by the theatre at more than 10 international festivals: in Lutsk, Uzhhorod, Lviv, Khmelnytskyy (Ukraine), Brest (Belarus), Catovice (Poland), Subotica (Serbia), Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Orenburg (Russia), Imatri (Finland).

The repertoire of the theatre includes a large range of both modern and classic world drama for children. A considerable amount is represented by Ukrainian national drama. The repertoire of the theatre includes more than 31 plays. The best of them are the following: "The Musicians of the Bremen" based on the Brothers Grimm's tale, a children's comic opera by M. Lysenko "Koza-Dereza", V.Smyekhov's musical "Ali-Baba and Robbers", "A Little Curious Elephant" based on R. Kipling's tale, "Be Aware of the Lion" by Ya. Steimakh, "The Soldier and the Witch", "The Princess and the Pea" by Hans-Christian Andersen, The Dwarf-Nose" by W. Hauff, "Once More About the red Riding Hood" based on the tale by Charles Perrault

In November 2007 the theatre got the status of the academic one and became a winner of the International Academic Popularity Rating "Zolota Fortuna" /Golden Fortune/. The company of artists is full of energy and creative forces, it continues and develops its best traditions, gives willingly its art and heart to children. The plans of the theatre are to stage new performances which will appeal to the audience by their original direction and new ideas.

Our address: 15, Petlura st., Rivne, 33028, Ukraine. E-mail: rivne_teatr@ukr.net