The first Ukrainian Drama Showcase, a large-scale theater project by Razom for Ukraine, was held in New York City, presenting modern and classic Ukrainian drama in English translation to an American audience as part of the Ukrainian Cultural Festival. Over four days, six Ukrainian plays were performed as stage readings at the Flamboyan Theater on the Lower East Side. в рамках Українського культурного фестивалю. Упродовж чотирьох днів на сцені Flamboyan Theater у Нижньому Іст-Сайді показали шість українських п’єс у форматі сценічних читань.
This was reported by Razom for Ukraine.
The festival took place on May 7-10, 2026 at the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center in Manhattan.
In addition to live screenings in New York, the Ukrainian Drama Showcase was broadcast online on the HowlRound Theatre Commonsplatform, allowing viewers from Europe, Ukraine, Australia, India, South Africa, and various states in the United States to join.
The organizers emphasized that the festival was an attempt to fill a significant gap – despite the international success of Ukrainian literature and cinema, Ukrainian theater has so far been almost completely underrepresented on the American stage.
“This showcase is designed to introduce both canonical and contemporary Ukrainian playwrights to a new audience and invite the US theater community to a dialogue with works that reflect the breadth of the Ukrainian experience,” the organizers noted.
The festival program covered various genres, styles, and historical periods – from Lesya Ukrainka’s proto-feminist classics to contemporary dramas and black comedies about war.
The stage featured plays by Serhiy Zhadan “A Harvest Truce”, Lesya Ukrainka “The Blue Rose”, Lena Lagushonkova “The Order of Neatly Made Beds”, Alina Sarnatska “Balance”, Anna Galas “The Chronicles of the Lost Soul” and Oleksandr Zhuhan “New York, Donetsk, Ukraine: 100° F”.
The festival’s main themes included war, memory, female identity, loss, trauma, love, and human resilience. The organizers described the program as a combination of front-line black comedy, poetic monologues, documentary theater, and contemporary stories about war and migration.
Poet and translator Nina Murray, who has worked on English-language translations of Ukrainian texts, played an important role in creating the showcase.
“The work of a translator can often be lonely. Seeing these plays in the hands of directors and actors is a delight and a privilege,” Murray noted.
The festival was joined by renowned American theater directors, including Obie Award winners Rory Pelsue and Danilo Gambini, as well as devised theater director Gillian Jetton. Each of them offered their own stage vision of Ukrainian texts, leaving the dramaturgy and the author’s voice in the spotlight.
One of the participants of the festival was Ukrainian playwright and war veteran Alina Sarnatska, who specially came from Ukraine to the USA as part of her own charity tour to raise funds for medical support for Ukrainian field medics, which is delivered by the charitable organization Leleka Foundation. Her play “Balance” is based on her personal experience of working as a combat medic during the war.
Read also: Ukrainian veteran Alina Sarnatska is on a theater tour in the US to raise funds for medics
The organizers emphasized that the Ukrainian Drama Showcase has become not only an artistic event, but also a platform for understanding the Ukrainian experience of war through modern theater.
“These performances will move you, challenge you and stay with you long after the curtain falls,” Razom for Ukraine noted.
Razom for Ukraine also emphasized that the festival has become an example of cultural diplomacy and international representation of Ukrainian art. Through English-language productions, American audiences were able to directly experience Ukrainian authors, themes, and art forms.
“We are bringing the most urgent, raw, and transformative theater from Ukraine directly to New York,” the organizers emphasized.
Photo: Maria Genkin
Author: Inna Mikhno