In his memoirs, Mieczysław Turski noted that already "in 1946, the Actor and Puppet Theater in Poznań, under the direction of Halina Lubicz, visited the Lubuska Land and gave performances in Zielona Góra, Gorzów, Nowe Miasteczko, Kożuchów, Nowa Sól, Krosno and Lubsko". Several years later, the idea of creating a Puppet Stage in Zielona Góra began to crystallize. As Zdzisław Giżejewski, an actor, and once also the manager and literary secretary of the theatre, recalled – everything “began with a row”:
Almost literally from a brawl. Who else but Halina Lubicz, a tireless advocate of popularizing theater among children, could energetically and enthusiastically demand from the management, from the actors, from the authorities, the establishment of the Puppet Stage? Her arguments, supported by real social needs, convinced director Jerzy Zegalski, and he made a decision.
Well, but how was it to be realized, since there was no formal puppet stage yet, no budget, no special studio, no trained technical staff and, perhaps most importantly, there were no puppeteer actors. Yet work began. The acting team included people who had had some experience with puppet theater in the past, a set of puppets and decorations designed by Henri Poulaine were brought from Łódź, and rehearsals began. The pleasant plot of "Arguments in Pacynków" [prem. 6 December 1959] and melodies composed by Jerzy Katlewicz encouraged to work. It is worth recalling that the action of the play takes place on a puppet set and on the so-called living plan. The actors who operated the puppet were: Stefania Błońska, Ewa Nawrocka and Rajmund Jakubowicz. The latter also appeared to the public. The character of the living plane - Uncle Jacek - was recreated by the person writing these words. The director, who also helped behind the scenes during the performance, was Andrzej Rettinger, who has been associated with the puppet theater for a long time...
[...] There were a total of 8 performances at the headquarters and 3 in the field (Kożuchów, Głogów, Świebodzin), which were watched by a total of 5,000 young spectators. For many, it was the first contact with the stage art at all, and we, the performers, more than once experienced in contact with the charming audience a deep and still remembered emotion. [...]
The circumstances in which Halina Lubicz organized the Puppet Stage in the Zielona Góra theater are recalled years later by her son, Henryk Ryszard Żuchowski – actor, director and writer:
Given this task, she set about it with enthusiasm and organizational talent as usual. […] Just like in Poznań years ago, she started from scratch. There were no actors or director. She engaged a handful of other enthusiasts, Janina Janiak-Garbowska, Roman Garbowski, Konrad Franciszkowicz and Andrzej Rettinger, and in October 1962 led to the opening of a puppet stage by staging "Janka Wędrowniczka" by Janina Morawska, acting as a director herself and, as it was in her nature, she "sold out" completely once again to the puppet theatre. […]
For two seasons, managing this stage, he has staged three more films in his own direction: "Kozalinka" by Tomašová, "Bird's Milk" by Ryl and "Bear in Golden Chains" by Sikirycki and Sykała. On the "live" stage, he appears only in Brecht's "Communism Days". […] He conducts a plebiscite among children on the name of the theater, because he believes that a puppet theater must have a name. "Cucumber" wins.
Bolesław Soliński talked about the successive stages of the development of the local Puppet Stage:
[…] a new quality appeared in the theatre's work, a beginning was made. […] And so we come to October 6, 1962, which day and year the team of puppeteers from Zielona Góra treats as the first in its ten-year jubilee. The director of the Zielona Góra theater at the time, Marek Okopiński, decides to take a risk and ten years after the theatre's establishment, the Puppet Stage becomes a reality, a new, important link joins the chain of cultural work in the Lubuskie Region.
The management of the new Stage is taken over by the distinguished actress of the Theater Halina Lubicz, who has extensive practice in this field of artistic work […], Ciocia Halina, later extremely popular among children from Zielona Góra. The theater receives the nice name "Cudaczek" by way of a competition (what gloomy man liquidated it after years?), the ingenious poster is designed by the visual artist Kazimierz Rojowski. Initially started timidly in the late 1950s, the work is now gaining momentum. For historical accuracy, it is worth recalling that the first premiere of the new stage was a staging of a puppet trick for children under the symbolic title "Janek Wędrowniczek" according to M. Konopnicka, which was performed 77 times in total for almost 22,000 young viewers, 12 times in Zielona Góra and 65 in the field.
Then came new, further premieres and performances, normal problems and modest successes, the theater gradually matured artistically, grew into the natural landscape of the voivodship, proving its indispensability year after year. […] The theater begins to cooperate in useful social actions, conducts competitions, tries to cooperate with the school in the field of education, creates its own style of operation and artistic profile.
In 1970, the city authorities awarded Halina Lubicz with the Cultural Award for her activity and merits in the development of cultural life (including the organization of a puppet theater). Four years later, the children honored "Aunt Halina" with the Order of the Smile.
Sources:
A. Buck, „Teatr małej oczyzny. Szkice do dziejów Lubuskiego Teatru w Zielonej Górze 1951-2010”, Zielona Góra 2018.
Z. Giżejewski, „Zaczęło się od <Awantury>”, [w:] „10 lat Sceny Lalkowej Lubuskiego Teatru im. Leona Kruczkowskiego w Zielonej Górze. Program jubileuszowy”, red. M. Fik, A. Tomschey-Kaczor, R. Garbowski, Zielona Góra 1973.
B. Soliński, „Jubileuszowe wspominki”, red. M. Fik, A. Tomschey-Kaczor, R. Garbowski, Zielona Góra 1972.
M. Turski, „Takie to były czasy”, Zielona Góra 1973.
H.R. Żuchowski, „Opowieść o niepowtarzalnym życiu Haliny Lubicz”, Lublin 2005.
Photo T. Ambroż, M. Kucharski, Cz. Łuniewicz/materiały LT
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