The development of comprehensive strategies for advancing contemporary Ukrainian drama

Following the roundtable, the Ukrainian Drama Network project held a professional discussion on the promotion of contemporary drama on the stages of Ukrainian theatres.

The roundtable was attended by well-known playwrights, theatre critics, directors, and actors, and the discussion resulted in recommendations addressed to playwrights, directors, theatres, and the state.

As reported, the project was initiated by the Theatre na Zhukah in partnership with the Ukrdramahab platform and the Theatre of Playwrights. The Ukrainian Institute became a partner in the international components of the project. The project was funded by the Stabilisation Fund for Culture and Education 2022 of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany and the Goethe-Institut.

Here are the recommendations in full.

For playwrights

– To develop management skills along with creative skills. To formulate proactively and submit grant applications for productions of their plays in collaboration with theatres, and directors, both Ukrainian and foreign ones. To monitor opportunities for grant programmes that support theatre and drama.

– To apply to publishing houses, and institutions (Ukrainian Institute, Ukrainian Book Institute, etc.) for the publication of drama, seek grant opportunities to publish their own collections of plays or in collaboration with other playwrights.

– Through personal involvement, to promote the formation of an attitude towards playwriting as part of the general literary process and promote playwriting in every way possible on the book market, including presenting published collections at literary forums, festivals, etc.

– To monitor support programmes from Ukrainian Institute, Ukrainian Book Institute, and other institutions at the municipal and state levels, and to take a proactive position in forming partnerships and projects.

– To publish their works in online libraries of contemporary drama. To be active in promoting their own works, send texts to directors, theatre managers, critics, and other industry stakeholders.

– To participate in playwriting competitions: those plays that have been shortlisted and longlisted are of the greatest interest to directors.

– Continuously attend workshops, and laboratories on playwriting and gain knowledge that will allow a better understanding of the work of directors, and the laws of the stage.

– To expand the circle of contacts during various events: forums, presentations, readings of contemporary drama, etc.

– To team up with colleagues to solve common professional problems. To establish a professional union (association, etc.) to effectively formulate requests for legislative changes and advocate for them at the legislative level.

For directors

– To get acquainted with contemporary drama, in particular, in online libraries, and attend drama readings, festivals, and other drama forums.

– To use the unique opportunity to collaborate with contemporary authors in the process of staging a play/reading to stage the text better and reveal its inherent meanings.

– To search for and develop, together with playwrights, new forms, content, and features of the national Ukrainian theatre that make it unique on the European theatre map.

For state theatres

– To include at least 20-30% of productions based on contemporary Ukrainian drama in their repertoire, thus creating performances on topics relevant to society and attracting new audiences, especially young people.

– To look for new forms of working with the audience, in particular, to organise discussions after performances/readings of contemporary drama, creating additional public space and giving impetus to changes in society.

– To study the experience of cooperation with playwrights from European theatres and implement best practices in Ukraine, in particular, engage playwrights to work in the theatre on a regular basis.

– To create special events (festivals, readings, creative meetings, roundtables, etc.) aimed at introducing contemporary drama to the audience.

For the state.

– To introduce playwriting education in Ukrainian theatre universities.

– To develop and implement financial incentives for theatres that include plays by contemporary Ukrainian playwrights in their repertoire.

– To establish an annual prestigious state award to the best playwright and publish an almanac of shortlisted plays.

– To create special programmes with the involvement of the Ukrainian Institute and Ukrainian Book Institute aimed at translating and promoting contemporary Ukrainian drama abroad.

– To establish the Ukrainian Institute of Theatre to develop a clear state policy in the theatre sector.

The Ukrainian Drama Network project launched to support contemporary national drama

In November, the Ukrainian Drama Network was launched with the goal of unifying scattered individual endeavours focused on contemporary Ukrainian drama. Its primary objective is to provide support and integration for these initiatives.

The aim of the project is to create effective mechanisms for promoting contemporary plays on stage, establishing sustainable communication between authors and theatres, and combining various links of play promotion in Ukraine and abroad, from publication and dissemination of information to translation and international exposure.

The project was initiated by the Theatre na Zhukah in partnership with the Ukrdramahab platform and the Theatre of Playwrights. The Ukrainian Institute became a partner in the international components of the project. The project is funded by the Stabilisation Fund for Culture and Education 2022 of the German Federal Foreign Office and the Goethe-Institut.

According to Dmytro Ternovyi, co-founder of Theatre na Zhukah, playwright, and project manager, Ukrainian theatre has failed to keep pace with the “remarkable transformations” that have occurred in Ukrainian society since the Revolution of Dignity. He highlights that theatre has been slow to embrace contemporary Ukrainian drama, which, in contrast, readily responds to the pressing issues of our time. Ternovyi emphasizes the prevailing inertia within many theatres, as they often overlook modernity, even in the aftermath of the war. Determined to alter this state of affairs, he expresses a firm resolve to instigate change.

In this regard, he said, a number of events are planned as part of the project.

One of the most important tasks is a radical reconstruction of the most popular drama portal Ukrdramahab, which has been visited by more than 100 thousand users over the years. Now, the portal, together with the Ukrainian drama translation digital library of foreign translations of Ukrainian drama created in the summer, will be combined into a single platform for the full promotion of Ukrainian plays in Ukraine and abroad.

The founder of the portal, playwright Iryna Harets, said that the two sites will be similar in design and will complement each other in terms of functions, but at the same time Ukrdramahab “will be even more efficient and convenient for users.”

“We are planning to launch many new options, such as personal accounts for playwrights, and critics, granting them the authority to manage their pages independently, to offer their news, and reviews, the possibility for readers to rate texts and add comments, etc. Representatives of theatres will be able to follow the updates of the pages of specific authors. We hope that this site will eventually become a platform for sustainable communication between authors, critics, and theatres,” said Iryna Harets.

Another large-scale event of the project will be dramatic readings, to which only professional theatre audiences (theatre critics and directors from different regions of Ukraine) will be invited. The purpose of the readings and discussions is to establish contacts between authors, directors, and critics, and to promote professional networking. For the first time, plays that have won or been shortlisted for all major playwriting competitions in Ukraine will be read. For the readings, 12 texts have been selected that were highly praised at 8 competitions in 2021 and 2022 but have not yet been performed on stage.

“On the last day of the readings, we also want to hold a round table and hope that it will result in a working document with proposals to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy on mechanisms for promoting contemporary drama in the repertoires of theatres,” said Ternovyi.

Another important part of the project is to support theatre translation.

Anastasia Haishenets, the representative of the Ukrainian Institute, informed that the Ukrainian Institute has launched a playwriting competition “Transmission.UA: drama on the move”, selecting texts for translation into different languages every year. This year, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Drama Network project and the July Honey playwriting competition, 3 plays were selected for translation into Polish.

“We need to increase the number and quality of translations by contemporary playwrights to make Ukraine visible to foreign theatres. But at the same time, we are faced with another problem: a terrible shortage of translations of classic Ukrainian plays. That’s why another initiative was born within the project – the launch of a playwriting translation competition.  We start with the translation of Ivan Franko’s “Stolen Happiness” into English. The Theatre Translation Laboratory, established at the Department of Foreign Languages of Lviv National University, is of great help in implementing this initiative,” said Haishenets.

The project team decided to name this competition after Iryna Steshenko (an outstanding translator and actress of the Les Kurbas Berezil Theatre), bringing another worthy creative name back to the modern information space.

Thus, said Ternovyi, the project ties together various elements of contemporary drama promotion, and each of them forms its own circle of partners.

He hopes that this experience will provide all participants with a new level of communication opportunities and will contribute to the effective promotion of Ukrainian drama in theatres.

Posted in Uncategorized

Art therapy residency program for refugees held in France in partnership with Theatre na Zhukah

26–29 August. Art therapy residency for Ukrainian refugees in Salvetat-sur-Agoût, a town in the south of France. Theatre na Zhukah has lent its hand to the organizers.

The purpose of the residency program is to provide psychological assistance to children and their mothers.

The program was initiated by “Teplo”, a French-Ukrainian association with which the Treatre has a partnership agreement and provided organisational assistance in conducting of the event (concept development, composition of participants, coordination of activities, etc.).

Vast majority of Ukrainians in France is suffering from the traumatic experience of the war but the language barrier prevents them from obtaining any psychological assistance. The idea of a several days’ long residency was to create conditions for psychological strengthening of Ukrainians through the art therapy.

Ukrainian psychologists (art therapists) with an extensive experience in healing the psychological traumas were involved in the work of the residency on a volunteer basis. The emotional healing proceeded with the help of paint and plasticine, music and rhythm, group theatrical exercises, etc. Art therapy practices were complemented by unusual locations and a cultural program.

The residency program was concluded by an international scientific and practical conference “Practical issues of psychosocial support of the refugee families in order to overcome the migration crisis”, which promoted the exchange of professional experience and the collation of new ideas in how to help the refugees.

The residency program was supported by Hérault, Communauté de communes du Minervois au Caroux, Association des Maires de l’Hérault, Groupe Danone, the United Help Ukraine Fund, Banque Crédit Agricole, and the crowdfunding donations.

Posted in Uncategorized

YouTube channel “Theatrical windows” is up and running

Educational channel “Theatrical windows” is set up online to promote the exchange of theatrical skills and experience.

It will collate and store practical video information about various theatre schools around the world: workshops, video classes, movies, interviews, etc., so as to demonstrate the diversity of theatre culture and the existing theatre systems.

The channel will present classes from theatre teachers, directors and actors from various countries representing various theatre schools. All information will be dubbed in the Ukrainian language.

“There is nothing like this in the Ukrainian segment of the Internet. This will be a channel with a totally unique content. In fact, it is about a live video guidebook for everyone engaged in theatrical arts: actors, directors, teachers, critics and – above all – students of theatre universities”, points out Dmytro Ternovyi, initiator and coordinator of program “Theatrical window to Europe”.

He went on to say that the main idea of the project is to bring theatrical communities of Ukraine and Europe closer together.

The channel already offers workshops presenting the Lecoq’s school of physical theatre. Shortly, there will be workshops representing the Polish theatre school, commedia dell’arte and the instrumental actor school.

The channel has been created within framework of “Theatrical windows. Work in progress” – a project by the Theatre na Zhukah (Kharkiv, Ukraine), with financial support from the International Relief Fund with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany and the Goethe-Institut Ukraine

Theatre teacher from the UK opens this year’s project “Theatrical windows. Work in progress”

Lana Biba, a teacher and a director from the UK, opens this year’s project “Theatrical windows. Work in progress”. Together with the students of Kharkiv I.P. Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts, she is going to stage a play in the spirit of physical theatre of Jacques Lecoq.

On 28 and 29 October, she will conduct physical theatre workshops for the students of the Theatre Faculty of Kharkiv I.P. Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts. The classes will be streamed online. Over the next 10 days, she and the students will be working on a new show.

So far, the teacher is vague about the topic she intends to offer to the students for joint work, so this might come as a surprise to participants of her laboratory.

Lana Biba is a Swede of Ukrainian descent who lives and works in the UK. Since childhood, Lana dreamed of performing on stage. She was particularly drawn to the art of pantomime and clowning. Her dream came true: as luck would have it, she became a student of the famous French mime Marcel Marceau in Ecole International de Mimodrame (Paris). According to the media reports, she proved to be one of the top students out there. She went on with her post-graduate studies in the Jacques Lecoq physical theatre techniques at London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA).

Lana Biba is a co-founder of 2theatre company. She and her troupe won awards for two performances from such distinguished theatre forums as Edinburgh International Theatre Festival  (Fringe program) and London Solo Festival Award. She worked in Cirque du Soleil; took part in the world tour SOAP The Show; she performed on the stage of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden (London, UK) and the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao (Spain); worked together with prominent theatre directors such as Tim Supple (National Theatre London), Akram Khan (Akram Khan Dance Company), Chris Evans (Gecko Theatre) and Cal McCrystal (Spiderman2 Hollywood).

Her career of a teacher covers physical theatre, ensemble, mask, pantomime, dancing and puppet theatre. She taught at the Central School of Speech and Drama (London), Stockholm University of Dramatic Arts (Sweden), Drama School Mumbai (India), Horse Trade Theatre Group (NYC, USA) and Cirque du Soleil (Montreal, Canada).

Lana Biba is giving classes in Kharkiv within framework of the “Theatrical windows. Work in progress” – a project initiated by the Theatre na Zhukah (Kharkiv, Ukraine) and supported by the International Relief Fund-2021 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany. The project further intends to invite directors from Germany, France and Poland. All of them will not only hold workshops, presenting their schools and methods to the students, but will stage blitz shows with the future actors as well. The same shows will be open to public later on. The schools of Grotowski, instrumental actor and commedia dell’arte will be presented during the following stages of the project. And all “work in progress” blitz shows created in the course of the project will be integrated into one big students’ play in February 2022.

This year, the project is financed by the International Relief Fund-2021 that provides assistance to organizations conducting their activities in the sphere of culture and education with the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Goethe-Institut and other partners: www.goethe.de/hilfsfonds.

Posted in Uncategorized

Olga Ternova wins the Korneychukovsky Award – the biggest literary contest for children in Ukraine

Co-founder and director of the Theatre na Zhukah, Olga Ternova comes top of the best at the Korneychukovsky Award – the biggest literary contest for children and youths in Ukraine – with her debut book for children.

Her “Tale about Fairy Tale” was No. 1 book in nomination of “”Prose for the Younger Kids”.

“Tale about Fairy Tale” is a story about what happens when people no longer treat the life as a miracle.

Yun, a young magician, comes to a small town where people go on living their lives, taking care of their problems and savoring their joys, not even aware that they have long ceased believing in miracles. So he goes, making miracles, trying to wake people up and to revive the soul of the town. But very few can be saved in the end. When Yun finally leaves the town, the townsfolk turn into what they really are.

Olga Ternova emphatically pointed out that the jury this year took into account the readers’ opinion – something that had never happened before. “Interestingly enough, in addition to the jury, they involved readers of the relevant age. In my opinion, it’s a great idea – to let kids pick the books for themselves”, she said.

The Korneychukovsky Award literary contest for children and youths was first held in 2014. The contest has 4 nominations.

Dmytro Ternovyi came second on the same contest in nomination “Dramatic Art for Children and Youths” with his piece “A Butterfly Wing”.

Posted in Uncategorized