In a large family circle. A warm winter holiday at the orphanage.

"Over the sleeping Bethlehem a star has suddenly stopped, and the entire neighborhood gleaned with the shining God's light..." On the Christmastide week, the girls from the monastery's orphanage were congratulating their guests with the Nativity of Christ. They performed a fairy-tale opera "Morozko" ("Frost") that the nuns, professional singers, and actors helped them prepare.

Of course, the girls are incapable of preparing such a performance by themselves yet. Thus, to participate in the play, the singers from the city's theaters had been invited, and the opera stage directors were the orphanage's spiritual father Fr. Thomas, and an actress from the Children's Theater, Nataliya Okorokova. There was live music: a small ensemble was playing by the stage – a violin, a cello, a flute, a viola, and piano.

Taken as the basis of the performance, was M.I. Krasev's opera "Morozko" ("Frost"). It had to be considerably abbreviated and somewhat reworked: several poems have been written and the script changed. Some of the decorations for the performance were made by the monastery's iconographers, and the sisters from the sewing workshop helped prepare the costumes.

Before the beginning of the festival, the auditorium decorated for the Nativity reminded of a real theater: the musicians were tuning their instruments, the girls on the stage were rehearsing bits of their roles, and well-dressed guests – adults and youngsters, took strolls between rows of chairs. The mood is festive and joyous. A little bit of time passed and in the quiet the curtain opened: a radiant, kind story about the meek girl Dunyasha and her spoiled sister Frosya began. Many wonders took place before the eyes of the spectators: there were snowstorms by command of the formidable Frost; the poor Dunyasha would turn into a beautifully clad princess, and forest-dwellers – squirrels and hares sang a Christmas song... And finally, the main miracle of the Christmas story – the transformation of cranky Frosya into a kind and loving sister, the eternal victory of good over evil. This is why the fairy-tale opera is ended with an exultant ode about the Incarnate Christ Who has come to the Earth for the sake of the transformation of every person.

Protopriest Thomas Abel:

– Christmas performances for the orphans is another occasion in an engaging way to think about good and evil, what that should be. And for those who participate in the performance, it is not only a chance to manifest their musical and artistic abilities, but also a possibility to give joy to other people. And, most important thing that they come to understand due to this work, is that in order to bring joy to other people, they have to labor, to put in effort, to give part of their soul.

Nataliya Okorokova:

– Before working on this performance, I had never had a chance to communicate so closely with these orphans. I did visit them before, but in a different role: I would perform with small plays, or come with students from the Sunday school where I teach... Yet, this year, I've been asked to help the girls put on a Christmas performance. It has been an amazingly interesting work! It has been interesting to me as a professional: the material was really fertile – the well-known fairy-tale "Frost" in an original exposition, written in verse, with many musical parts. And what picturesque characters! I would often catch myself thinking: how I would have liked to play one of those roles!

And most importantly – the girls themselves, the orphans. They are great laborers, musically gifted, and they were also greatly benefited by the presence of professional actors. Yet, what made a particular impression on me – is the way they treated their roles. Alya was playing a negative character, a lazy, capricious girl, and I saw how difficult it was for her to enter into this role, because at the orphanage she is not taught laziness and self-will, all this sickens her. At the same time I felt that she wanted to play in the way so as to say to the spectators: don't be like that!
I think there is much fruit to be expected from these girls in the future. I mean not only their artistic and musical abilities, but, most importantly, the spiritual pivot.

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