An NGO New Ukrainian Drama (NUD), founded in 2021 by Anastasiya Yevchenko & Yuliya Yevchenko (Chair – Olga Klymenko), focuses on: search for new voices, development of a new wave of Ukrainian drama, empowerment of female theatre-makers, creation of new practices and forms, popularisation of Ukrainian theatre and promotion of the positive image of Ukraine worldwide, advocacy of live emotions in the digital era, creative exchange and cultural diplomacy within international collaborations, integration of international practices into Ukrainian theatre.
The first project that NUD has supported is an immersive, interactive, multi-sensorial, site-specific, surrealist theatre production "Cachés: clé à Dalí" ("Hidden: key to Dalí", https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o0RDRG8wSu8LzpuBCP8AkXn1qKj08Vgr/view?usp=sharing), using it as a case study, during the implementation of the project in Kyiv (2021-2022), the team has integrated some international theatre practices like stage management, R&D, structured design process. The show was scheduled to premiere at The Chocolate House in Kyiv in 2022, but got cancelled due to russian full-scale invasion. The project is now under-development for an international collaboration with a long-lasting run in London and an adapted version for the European touring (Ukraine, France, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, Italy, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland).
As part of "international collaboration", one of the NUD’s goals, we have organised a visit of a British producer Brian Hook (co-owner of the Hartshorn-Hook Productions, https://hartshornhook.com/) to Kyiv and Lviv in May 2024 to explore the cities and culture, hear stories about wartime experience, meet "Cachés: clé à Dalí" original Ukrainian creative team, representatives of government and independent theatres in spirit of cultural exchange between Ukraine and Britain. Brian Hook has documented his visit in this blog: https://brianhook0.wordpress.com/.
In addition, in August 2024, by the invitation from renowned Ukrainian playwright Maksym Kurochkin, NUD hosted workshops "Healing Powers of Surrealism: Automatic Writing & Art Therapy" and "British Theatre, Immersive Theatre & Playwriting Essentials" for The Theatre Veterans, a project created by The Theatre of Playwrights and TRO Media.
Our next project is "NUD 2025: Residency & Networking" in July 2025, supported by the British Council (https://www.britishcouncil.org.ua/en/support-cultural-activity-ukraine-uk-involvement) focusing on the creative exchange and cultural diplomacy between Ukraine and the United Kingdom with five Zoom workshops and an offline networking event at The Theatre of Playwrights in Kyiv. NUD is currently participating in the British Council’s "Supporting the Creative Economy" programme (https://www.britishcouncil.org.ua/en/programmes/arts/creative-economy/supporting-the-creative-economy-online-learning-programme).
In the future, organisation plans to scale-up in four directions: playwriting (classes, mentorship, networking, staged readings, movements, groups, residencies and an annual playwriting festival), education & practices (research, labs, exploratory performances, workshops with leading international theatre practitioners), funding (grants, bursaries, investments), collaboration (take part in, facilitate and organise international collaboration projects; the winners of the annual playwriting festival will be connected with international theatre producers to translate and showcase the works abroad).
