Bachynsky, Omelian

Bachynsky, Omelian [Бачинський, Омелян; Bačyns'kyj, Omeljan], b 1833 in the village of Zhukotyn, Turka county, Galicia, d 10 July 1907 in Sambir. Actor, director, and entrepreneur; husband of Teofilia Bachynska. He began his acting career on the Polish stage in 1852 in Lviv. In 1857–63 he worked in Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian troupes in Kyiv, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Zhytomyr, etc. In 1864 he became the director of the first professional Ukrainian theater in Galicia—which was part of the Ruska Besida society in Lviv (see Ukrainska Besida Theater)—and he held this post until 1867, and again in 1873 and 1880. In 1868–75 (with interruption) he directed his own Ukrainian and then (1875–94) Ukrainian-Polish troupes in Galicia. He appeared in many roles, including Nazar in Taras Shevchenko’s Nazar Stodolia, Antos in Józef Korzeniowski’s Karpaccy górale (Carpathian Mountaineers), Stetsko in Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko’s Svatannia na Honcharivtsi (The Marriage Engagement in Honcharivka), and Flen in F. Suppe’s Happy Schoolboys.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]