Village child actors, the main participants of Yefim Chestnyakov’s theater productions, performed in colorful costumes, masks with triangular noses and beards made of flax tow. The artist made children’s outfits for performances himself, as a rule, out of fabric scraps of various colors. Hand-painted clay buttons and paper flowers were used to decorate the costumes. At the Shablovo kindergarten, founded by Yefim Chestnyakov in his shed, children made flowers with varied petals out of paper, molded figurines out of clay, sang and staged performances at the children’s theater, “A magic reed pipe”, “Chivilyushka”, “Baba Yaga” and other short improvisations.

Yefim Chestnyakov composed and staged plays extemporaneously, without rehearsals. Children enjoyed dressing up and wearing masks. The theater costume on display is the top part of a woman’s outfit: an irregularly-shaped blouse with cut out holes in it. The short (typically reaching up to a child’s waist or hips) pink blouse was sewn by hand out of chintz and decorated with buttons of various sizes, the first and the biggest is in the shape of a shamrock, and the second is circular and average in size. Both the buttons in the center of the outfit were painted with gouache, the upper is yellow, and the lower is red. The third and last button at the bottom of the row is made out of wood and covered in white fabric. The buttons are stitched onto the colorful artificial buttonholes, hence the blouse has to be put on over one’s head, like a shirt or a pinafore. The hem of the blouse is cut up with scissors. The unusual outfits made by Yefim Chestnyakov made children playing their roles look unforgettable.

Since 2019, the pink blouse has been kept at the museum. Any dirt or debris was removed from the costume and it remains in fairly good condition thanks to the efforts of restorers of fabric from the Kostroma Reserve Museum. Nina Andreevna Rumyantseva, who had taken part in Yefim Chestnyakov’s performances, recalled “In spring time, during festivities, I had a chance to sing koliadas in the streets with him. I took part in his performances and played various parts in fairy tales. Still, my role in the tale Chivilyushka, is especially memorable. The performance was set in a wooden banya. Baba Yaga was trying to drag Chivilyushka out of the window. She managed to get his head through but not the shoulders. Chivilyushka screamed while we laughed until we cried. Our friend and mentor never approved of such behavior. At times, he even admonished us and used an unfamiliar to us at the time word, “callousness”.’