New Lviv Theater

New Lviv Theater [Новий львівський театр; Novyi lvivskyi teatr]. A society of actors under the artistic triumvirate of Volodymyr Kalyn, Amvrosii Buchma, and Mykola Bentsal, established on the initiative of Favst Lopatynsky and Kalyn in Ternopil in December 1918 by a union of the Ternopil Ukrainian Drama Theater (1918–19) (see Ternopilski Teatralni Vechory) and the actors from the Ruska Besida Theater. In 1919 it performed under the auspices of the Ukrainian Galician Army (as the Theater of the Supreme Command of the Ukrainian Galician Army) in Chortkiv, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Proskuriv, and Vinnytsia. That summer it split into two groups; one, led by Bentsal, continued touring, was interned by Polish authorities in May 1920, and later formed the Lviv Ukrainian Independent Theater; and the other joined with a faction of the former Molodyi Teatr under Hnat Yura to form the touring Franko New Drama Theater (see Kyiv Ukrainian Drama Theater).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]