– Good day, Elena. Could you explain to us what the URAA is?

The United Russian American Association (URAA) or the United Russian American Association is located in Houston. Fifteen years ago, the idea arose to create a new, fully volunteer-based organization that could take work with Russian-speaking residents of Houston and the surrounding area to a new level.

– Please tell us more about the events that you organize.

Among the initiatives of the URAA include the organization and conduct of:

  • Festivals (“My Family” -2008, “The Great Russian Word” -2009, “I’m Proud!”)
  • Annual Russian Ball (“Pushkin is our everything”, “Life is a success!”)
  • The annual holiday dedicated to March 8 (“The Barber of Texas”, “Disco 80s”, “Following the Wave of My Memory”, “The Unusual Adventures of Italians in Texas”, “Spring on Zarechnaya Street”, “Land in the Window”, “For Our Ladies! “,” Maslenitsa Mayovka”)
  • Annual holiday “November” to the Day of National Unity
  • The annual holiday of Neptune – Farewell to Summer

We also have Christmas trees for children and Maslenitsa holidays in the park, Russian Culture Days in American schools, festive events for veterans and hold Russian Club meetings in an elderly person’s home. We also organize literary readings, help in holding annual May-events, we sponsor the Russian Theater of Houston, the Rassvet children’s dance studio, the Radost Children’s Theater, the Women’s Club, the What? Where? When? ”, The theater group “Entrepris ”, the folklore choir “Sudarushka” and other non-profit organizations of Texas and America.

We try to collaborate with different cultural centers in Houston. We clearly see our goals and objectives, and among them the main ones are the unification of those with similar goals and the need to popularize Russian culture and traditions.

– Please tell us about the widely beloved Khokhloma puppet theater?

The premiere of the performance “Come, Fairy Tale!” was on June 3, 2012 in Houston, and consisted of 3 performances. The newly created Khokhloma Puppet Theater of Texas, on the day of the Holy Trinity performed in front of Russian-speaking Texans and dedicated the performance to the birthday of A.S. Pushkin and the Day of the Russian language.

– How are you adjusting to life during the coronavirus pandemic?

On March 26, 2020, strict quarantine was announced in Texas for 2 weeks (initially, the quarantine was announced “before Easter”, that is, until April 12.). Friends called each other and complained about how difficult it is to stay at home with small children. You can’t really explain to children the danger of the situation with coronavirus, they get bored. And then it dawned on me: a puppet theater! It needed to be a live performance, and not scripted – so that you can improvise, congratulate birthdays, give advice: stay at home, wash your hands, sing along with the dolls. At home I have my entire collection of 350 or more dolls and all the decorations. I also edit the music for the performances myself, so putting a small screen on one person, turning on the light and starting the “quarantine routine” was not difficult and obviously useful and entertaining for others.

For the first time I tried the Facebook “live broadcast” and wrote down a short invitation – it said, tomorrow I’ll be hoping for your attendance for a virtual performance: “To brighten up the quarantine, the Harlequin will help you. On Friday, March 27th, at noon Texas time, I will be showing the little ones, “Kolobok”. On Saturday, March 28 at noon, I will live stream on Facebook – i.e. just go to my page, puppet show “Snowmen and the Sun”. Sunday March 29th – “Geese-Swans”.

The live broadcast method was chosen so that viewers could watch the performance at any time convenient for them, since the video with the performance remains on the page in the form of a post. The first virtual video has already been watched by 1,800 people.

I have already shown on my “quarantine noon” the performances of “Kolobok”, “Snowmen and the Sun”, “Geese-Swans”, “Teremok”, “Turnip”, “Seven-color flower”, “Swineherd”, “The Princess and the Pea”, “The Naked King”, “Who Said MEOW? (Suteev) “, “A kitten named GAV (Oster), “How a duckling lost his home”, “The Ugly Duckling”, “Three Little Pigs”, “The Wolf and the Seven Kids”, “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “Flying Ship”, “Gruffalo” (D. Donaldson), “Gruffalo’s Daughter”, “Flight Doctors”, “I Want to See Mom”, “Silver Hoof”, “Stone Flower”, “Sivka-Burka”, “The Frog Princess “, “Gray Neck”, “The Tale of the Goldfish”, “Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka”, “Flame”, “The Crow and the Fox”, “Little Muk”, ” Thumbelina”, “Chipollino”, “Malchish-Kibalchish”, “Puss in Boots”, “Brownie Kuzya”, “The Firebird and Vasilisa the Princess”, “The Cat and the Fox”, “By the Pike’s Command”, “Dunno in the Flower City”, in honor of the Day of the Russian Language played “The Tale of the Tsar Saltan” and “Lukomorye”, the Czech fairy tale “Goldilocks”, on the Day of Russia showed “The Little Prince” (“The greatest luxury in the world is the luxury of human communication” Antoine de Sen Exupery). “Aladdin’s Magic Lamp”, “The Adventures of Pinocchio or the Golden Key”, “The Wizard of the Emerald City”, a celebration of American Independence Day with dolls, “The Lady Checked In” and “The Ballad of the Royal Sandwich” (Marshak). “The Leader of the Redskins” (O. Henry), Suteev’s Tales for the little ones … “Golden Antelope”, “King Thrushbeard”, “Pippi LongStocking”, “How the Soldier cooked porridge from an ax, and told about the Russian flag”, “The Tale of Lost Time”, “Two Maples”, “Three Raven Brothers”, “The Tale of the Dwarf”, the Russian epic “Sadko” , “How the fox was corrected” (B. Zakhoder), “Silent Potion” (Ukrainian fairy tale), “Little white cloud” (Arab fairy tale). Now I’m preparing a performance about Malish and Carlson.

65 times I went live, 65 stories different in era, style, and country – but the most beloved fairy tales. “RUTINA QUARANTINE” continues.

Puppet theater “Khokhloma” – these are adult puppeteers, a large screen, half-hour performances with a huge number of puppets and special effects. But because of the quarantine, everyone is at home, you can’t meet in person. Therefore, my performances cannot be considered a full-fledged theater: I have only two hands, so it is very difficult to play seven dwarfs or ten puppets. Therefore, sometimes the dolls are static on my table, but I compensate for this with my own emotions and voice – I am in front of the audience and I can play live the situation when the next character is delayed, turned in the wrong direction, or even “the artist’s place is in the buffet, I don’t go out!”.

It is interesting to observe who is watching the performances and to read the comments. Marina Golybina and Olga Moryak from Latin America, Alexei Tarasov from Singapore, Rimma Rizaeva from Turkey, Viktor Matkovsky from Spain, Nadezhda Kubikova from Portugal, Elena Dorokhova from Moscow, watching in St. Petersburg the granddaughter of the departed Ella Gurevich, Elena Geddis from Belfast, adults and children in Sochi … And in the USA there is a spread from Alaska and Washington to California and Florida.

My little grandchildren in Switzerland are surprised: why is grandmother not on Skype, but hiding behind a screen.

The organization was awarded a diploma from the City of Houston for charitable activities (2008, Mayor of Houston Bill White), and Suvorova-Philips was awarded numerous certificates and diplomas of various Russian foundations, including the GRAMOTA of the International Council of Russian Compatriots (ICRC) for personal contribution to the organization of events by 55 anniversary of Victory (2010, Sheremetyev P.P.), DIPLOMA of the Russian World and a statuette of Gagarin following the results of the festival “Captain of the Earth” (2011, V. Nikonov), two DIPLOMAS and a statuette “Silver Archer” (2012, 2014), a GRADUATE of the Government Commission on the Affairs of Compatriots – for a great contribution to the consolidation of the Russian community ( 2014, S.I. Kislyak), the GRAMOTO of the Government Commission on Compatriots’ Affairs – for a special contribution to support Russia and the development of ties with the historical Motherland (2016, S.I. Kislyak) and the DIPLOMA of the Government Commission on Compatriots Abroad (S.Lavrov).

On June 20, 2015, Elena Suvorova-Philips was awarded the Crown and Eagle Medal of Honor by the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences – USA, in recognition of the importance of her contribution to social psychology.

On September 18, 2016 Elena Suvorova Philips was awarded a Certificate from the US Congress with gratitude for her community service.

Contact Information:

President of the United Russian American Association

Elena Suvorova-Philips

Houston, TX

E-mail: president.uraa@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elenasuvorova.philips

Website: http://www.uraa.us

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU4xJiW9Xoed2p0BenKYa76qSfonIyjv7