Kharkiv Chervonozavodskyi Ukrainian Drama Theater

Kharkiv Chervonozavodskyi Ukrainian Drama Theater (Kharkivskyi chervonozavodskyi derzhavnyi ukrainskyi dramatychnyi teatr). A theater established in 1927 in the Chervonozavodskyi district in Kharkiv. Its first artistic director was Oleksander Zaharov, who was succeeded in 1928 by Vasyl Vasylko. L. Klishcheiev was the stage director, and Borys Kosariev and Yukhym Magner were the set designers. The company included such names as Yefrosyniia Zarnytska, Marko Petlishenko, Liubov Hakkebush, Varvara Masliuchenko-Hubenko, Yosyp Maiak, Mykhailo Tahaiv, Ivan Tverdokhlib, and Andrii Kramarenko. Its repertoire consisted mostly of Soviet plays by Ivan Mykytenko, Yakiv Mamontov, Myroslav Irchan, Leonid Pervomaisky, and Ivan Kocherha, but included also Liudmyla Starytska-Cherniakhivska's Rozbiinyk Karmeliuk (The Highwayman Karmeliuk), Volodymyr Vynnychenko's Hrikh (Sin), Eugene O'Neill's Desire under the Elms, and Vovcha Zhraia (Wolf Pack), based on Jack London's novel. Following Les Kurbas's example, in 1928 Vasylko formed an acting and directing laboratory. After being attacked for constructivism, the theater was disbanded in 1933. Some of its staff were transferred to Staline (now Donetsk), where they formed the core of the new Staline Ukrainian Drama Theater.

Valerian Revutsky

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989).]