Voyage Theater Company and Theater on Zhukah Launch a Joint Project of Readings of Ukrainian and American Drama
"Theatrical Windows: Ukraine-USA" is a cultural exchange project that has now been launched in a partnership between the Theater on Zhukah in Kharkiv and the Voyage Theater Company of New York City.
On May 8, with the support of the Center for International Theatre Development (CITD) and the Ukrainian Institute of Kyiv, the New York Public Library hosted the first event of the joint project – "Voices from Ukraine," an evening of staged readings of plays by contemporary Ukrainian playwrights.
Voyage Theater Company selected 5 short plays about the war in Ukraine that explore the trials, tribulations and emotional experiences that Ukrainians face daily as a consequence of Russia’s ongoing military aggression. The plays presented as part of the “Voices from Ukraine” program were “24 Hours” by Nina Zakhozhenko, “A Fan of War” by Polina Polozhentseva, “The Sailor” by Oksana Hrytsenko, “A Time for First Dates” by Marina Smilianets, “New York, Donetsk, Ukraine, 100°F” by Oleksandr Zhuhan, all of them in English translation.
photo Robert Sutherland-Cohen
Artistic Director of Voyage Theater Company Wayne Maugans noted that he and his team feel a great responsibility in mounting this work, and that it has become their personal mission to support Ukraine and bring its voices to the American audience. He reported that the event aroused strong interest, with nearly 200 people registering for the 100 seats in the hall of the New York Library. Consequently, for the first time in its practice, the theater organized an online stream of the readings in order to increase their audience outreach.
In the next phase of the U.S.-based project, Voyage Theater Company, which specializes in staging non-American plays and often presents new and little-known texts from around the world, will organize another reading in November in New York where it will perform a new, full-length Ukrainian play.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, a series of readings of contemporary American plays are planned throughout the summer in frontline cities: Kharkiv (Theater na Zhukah), Sumy (Sumy National Academic Theater of Drama and Musical Comedy named after M.S. Shchepkin), and Mykolaiv (Mykolaiv Academic Art Drama Theater). Currently, theater directors are selecting texts for staged readings, and the plays are being translated from English by translator and playwright Anna Halas.
This entire project takes place under the aegis of CITD’s LINKAGES: Ukraine program whose purpose is to create long-term connections between American and Ukrainian playwrights. The program was initiated by CITD Executive Director Brandice Thompson and CITD Ukraine Program Director, the writer and translator John Freedman, who, immediately following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched a global initiative titled Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings, which, to date, has organized over 750 readings, productions, films and other performances in 33 countries.
The inaugural LINKAGES: Ukraine project took place in 2024 as a partnership among the Theater na Zhukah, the HADT, and the American Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, which included readings of American plays in Kharkiv and the streaming of podcasts based on Ukrainian plays in Chattanooga. That initial program led directly to the LINKAGES: Ukraine project involving Theater na Zhukah and Voyage Theater Company.