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Ukrainian Theater in Crimea

After the transfer of the Crimean Oblast to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (UkrSSR) in 1954, the Crimean Regional Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater was established in Simferopol — an important center of Ukrainian culture on the peninsula. The theater arose on the basis of a mobile drama troupe relocated from the Kyiv region (opened on June 16, 1955, with the performance "Strong in Spirit"), and its status was finally confirmed by a resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (CC CPU) of December 6, 1956, despite an acute shortage of a permanent venue and opposition from local authorities. This was preceded by large-scale tours of leading artistic collectives of Ukraine in 1954.

Overview

Ukrainian theatrical art enjoyed great demand among Crimean audiences from the late 19th century. The liberalization of national policy in the late 1880s–1890s intensified the activity of the professional troupes of the Ukrainian "korifei" (master) actors — Mykhailo Starytskyi, Ivan Karpenko-Karyi (Tobilevych), Panas Saksahanskyi (Tobilevych) and Marko Kropyvnytskyi. Their tours across Crimea convincingly proved that the local population, primarily Ukrainians, greeted the Ukrainian theater troupe with enormous interest and love. Professor Petro Kyrychok studied the Crimean tours of Ukrainian theaters in detail; his works testify that echoes of successful performances survived even into the postwar years.

After 1954, when the Crimean Oblast was subordinated to Ukraine, resettlement from the UkrSSR gathered enormous pace. The proportion of Ukrainians in Crimea by the end of the 1950s increased significantly and exceeded 700,000 people (previously, official statistics recorded about 200,000, and in the first postwar decade another few tens of thousands of settlers were added). The leadership of the UkrSSR understood that a stable workforce could be attracted from Ukraine only by creating elementary cultural conditions for the settlers. To rapidly saturate the cultural environment, in the summer of 1954 the Government of the UkrSSR organized large-scale tours by the best republican collectives: the Kharkiv Opera and Ballet Theater, the Odesa Theater of Musical Comedy, the State Ukrainian Choir, the Bandurist Capella of the UkrSSR, the Dance Ensemble of the UkrSSR, and the Bukovyna and Zakarpattia choirs, which met with great enthusiasm among the population. It was then that the idea of creating a permanent Ukrainian theater arose.

The question was discussed throughout 1954–1956. Several key documents are preserved in the Central State Archive of Public Organizations of Ukraine (TsDAHO): - Letter from Dmytro Polyanskyi (Secretary of the Crimean Regional Committee of the CPU) to the CC CPU of October 2, 1954, on the creation in Simferopol of a permanently operating Ukrainian theater of musical comedy. The Crimean authorities even proposed using for it the premises of the club of the regional administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) in the city center (3 Mendeleiev St.). - On the same day, October 2, 1954, the bureau of the Crimean Regional Committee of the CPU adopted a resolution "On the Creation in the City of Simferopol of a Ukrainian Theater of Musical Comedy". - In early December 1954, Yefimenko, head of the science and culture sector of the CC CPU, prepared a reference note "On the Relocation of a Mobile Ukrainian Drama Theater to the City of Simferopol". The Ministry of Culture of the UkrSSR deemed it inadvisable to open a musical comedy theater and proposed relocating to Crimea one of the mobile Ukrainian drama theaters. - Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the UkrSSR of May 21, 1955 "On the Transfer of the Kyiv Regional Mobile Drama Theater from the Kyiv to the Crimean Oblast" was implemented: the theater was transferred to Simferopol and, until the reconstruction of a new permanent venue, was housed in the Dzerzhinskyi Club. On June 16, 1955, the theater opened with the performance "Strong in Spirit".

Almost a year later, the Presidium of the CC CPU, on December 6, 1956, adopted a resolution "On a Comprehensive Study of the Activities and Existing Problems of the Newly Created Crimean Ukrainian Drama Theater". A special party-government commission found that local authorities had not shown proper care for the theater: in the premises of the House of Culture of the regional MIA administration on Mendeleiev St., the theater was allotted only five rooms, for which an onerous rent was demanded — 1,500 rubles a month, 700 rubles for each performance and another 100 rubles a day for daytime rehearsals. Because the government decision was not implemented, 10 actors were left without housing, and most staff left the theater due to everyday hardships. The commission identified the lack of a permanent venue as the main cause of the low artistic quality of the first performances: of 362 performances staged in 10 months of 1956, the theater presented 360 outside Simferopol, on unsuitable rural stages.

The resolution of December 6, 1956 obliged the Ministry of Culture to provide the theater with comprehensive support and introduced: 1. Permanent residence in Simferopol with touring performances for the oblast. 2. Transfer of the House of Culture of the regional MIA administration at 3 Mendeleiev St. to the theater's permanent use. 3. Designation of music and drama as the main direction and approval of the name "Crimean Regional Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater". 4. Replenishment of the repertoire with plays on contemporary themes.

The first creative decade proved especially fruitful. The golden fund included the performances "Marusia Bohuslavka" by M. Starytskyi, "Give the Heart Freedom — It Will Lead into Bondage" by M. Kropyvnytskyi, "The Hired Woman" (Naimychka) and "The Unlucky Woman" (Beztalanna) by I. Karpenko-Karyi, "On Sunday Morning She Dug Herbs" after O. Kobylianska, and the opera "Kateryna" by A. Arkas. Over the years, productions included "Natalka Poltavka" by I. Kotliarevskyi, "Zaporozhets beyond the Danube" by S. Hulak-Artemovskyi, "The Sorochyntsi Fair" by O. Riabov, "May Night" after M. Hohol (Gogol), "Chasing Two Hares" by M. Starytskyi, "Shelmenko the Batman" by H. Kvitka-Osnovianenko, "Tytarivna" by M. Kropyvnytskyi, "The Roamer" (Huliacha) by Panas Myrnyi and many others. The theater employed the directors Ye. Stepanov, S. Boiko, V. Nedashkivskyi, V. Lenohorodskyi, V. Anosov, S. Smiian and a whole galaxy of actors (M. Andrusenko, S. Botvyn, I. Burmystrenko, S. Valdanovskyi, V. Veremieienko, Z. Demydenko, V. Didusenko, Y. Dobrovolskyi and others).

Over almost 60 years of existence, the theater repeatedly changed its name, repertoire and company, but remained the leading center of Ukrainian culture on the peninsula.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Background and the tours of the korifei: demand among Crimean audiences for Ukrainian theatrical art existed from the late 19th century — thanks to the tours of the troupes of Starytskyi, Karpenko-Karyi, Saksahanskyi and Kropyvnytskyi (the korifei theater), which Professor Petro Kyrychok studied in detail.
  • Summer tours of 1954: large-scale visits to Crimea by the Kharkiv Opera and Ballet Theater, the Odesa Theater of Musical Comedy, the State Ukrainian Choir, the Bandurist Capella of the UkrSSR, the Dance Ensemble of the UkrSSR, and the Bukovyna and Zakarpattia choirs, to familiarize Crimeans with Ukrainian art.
  • Decisions of 1954–1956: the initiative of the Crimean Regional Committee (D. Polyanskyi's letter of 02.10.1954 and the bureau's resolution of the same day) and the transfer of the Kyiv Regional Mobile Theater to Simferopol (resolution of the Council of Ministers of the UkrSSR of 21.05.1955, opening on 16.06.1955 with "Strong in Spirit").
  • Resolution of the CC CPU of December 6, 1956: granting the status of "Crimean Regional Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater", a permanent home in Simferopol, and designation of the music and drama direction of activity.
  • Problems of establishment: the lack of a permanent venue, the onerous rent for the MIA premises at 3 Mendeleiev St. (1,500 rubles/month + 700 rubles per performance + 100 rubles/day for rehearsals), the lack of housing (10 actors without accommodation), staff turnover, and repertoire difficulties (findings of the 1956 commission).
  • Repertoire and artists: Ukrainian classics (Starytskyi, Kropyvnytskyi, Karpenko-Karyi, Kotliarevskyi, Hulak-Artemovskyi, Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Kobylianska, Hohol), and the theater's directors and actors.
  • Author and source: articles by Petro Volvach ("Krymska Svitlytsia", 2017, No. 32, No. 37–38), based on documents of the TsDAHO of Ukraine (f. 1, op. 31, case 19, sheet 138; also published in the collection "Crimea under Conditions of Socio-Political Transformations (1940–2015)", Kyiv, 2016).