Resilience and Reinvention: Contemporary Ukrainian Theatre in Times of War

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

Despite the ongoing full-scale war, Ukraine’s theatre scene is experiencing a remarkable surge in creative activity. Audiences continue to fill performance spaces, and theatre-makers persist in producing new work, drawing increasing attention from international media. This roundtable examines the evolving landscape of contemporary Ukrainian theatre in greater context by analyzing infrastructural transformations, emerging texts, artistic innovations, shifting audience dynamics, and transnational connections. It also explores the unique challenges of creating theatre amid war and the complex task of envisioning a postwar cultural future. While war brings destruction, it also generates new artistic possibilities—opportunities that Ukrainian theatre-makers are actively seizing. Bringing together scholars from history (Oksana Dudko and Mayhill Fowler), literature (Anna Hodel and Oleksandra Wallo), and theatre studies (Anikó Szűcs), this discussion situates recent theatrical developments within a broader cultural and historical framework. Topics include the emergence of new Ukrainian Shakespeare festivals, evolving European collaborations, the mobility of Ukrainian artists performing abroad, the challenges facing theatre education, shifting conceptions of gender on stage, and the enduring presence of historical memory—both recent and distant—that continues to shape Ukraine’s theatrical landscape.

Sub Unit

• Arts II: Music, Theater, Performance Studies

Chair

• Markian Dobczansky, U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Roundtable Speakers

• Oksana Dudko, U of Toronto (Canada)

• Mayhill C. Fowler, Stetson U

• Anna Hodel, U of Basel (Switzerland)

• Aniko Szucs, CUNY Queens College

• Oleksandra Wallo, U of Kansas