Oleksandr Knyha

Kherson Theatre

After graduation, he worked for a year at the Vynohradove House of Culture as its artistic director, then later as its full director.^[2] Afterwards, he became Head of the Department of Culture of the Tsiurupynsk (now Oleshky since 2016) District Council.^[2] In 1989, he was finally appointed Head of the Kherson Regional Academic Music and Drama Theatre named after Mykola Kulish.^[4] As he later recalled, the theatre was in a difficult period as it had been partially destroyed during World War II, and colleagues would sometimes ask him whether the theatre was closing.^[5][6] Over the following years, he worked to rebuild the theatre, expanding it to have seven distinct performance spaces: a main stage, a cafe, an under-the-roof stage, an experimental open-air stage, a stage-under-the-circle, a theatrical courtyard, and a stage-within-a-stage.^[6] In its peak, the theatre performed around 36 to 40 shows per month and released between 12 and 17 premieres annually.^[6]

Knyha mainly worked with attracting younger audiences to the theatre, as he opened the experimental under-the-roof stages to target a younger audience and brought in young directors with unconventional productions to try and extract this audience.^[5] He also explored the idea of late-night performances at the theatre following a visit to Perm and considered open-air productions after a visiting company from Minsk used a forest setting.^[5] He eventually promoted the open-air concert for the theatre by establishing an outdoor stage in conjunction with the theatre at the farmstead "Chumats'ki Krynytsi" on the edge of the Oleshky Sands, with seating for around 200 spectators.^[7]

He also helped bring the theatre into an international profile. The company frequently toured Paris under his direction, where they performed entirely in the Ukrainian language at places like Théâtre Watteau. The theatre also started touring Bulgaria.^[5] Due to his work, the theatre has become a hub for the city of Kherson.^[6]

Melpomene of Tavria

In 1999, he founded the Kherson-based "Melpomene of Tavria", which is a theatre festival.^[8] He has served as its president.^[9] The idea was suggested to him by Mykola Berson, who was the then director of the Mykolaiv Theatre, but only came into fruition because the Kherson Theatre was starting to gain popularity at the time.^[10] However, the theatre nearly did not continue after its first year, as Knyha had to spend an entire year paying off the debts for its organization after the first festival in 1999.^[11] Although at first the festival was limited to participants from Ukraine, in 2004 it became truly international with theatres coming from Hungary and the unrecognized state of Transnistria.^[12]

Since its founding, the primary funding for the festival has been the audience's tickets, although it has received some state and local support.^[13] They later won a grant from the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation (UCF) and 110,000 UAH from Kherson city in 2010.^[13] The jury for the festival has been mainly composed of journalists since the early 2010s, when the concept was first introduced at the 14th edition of the festival.^[14] The festival has traditionally opened with a solemn parade through Kherson, and then events happen such as competition plays, theatrical "skits" known as kapustnnyks, gala concerts, and street events.^[12]

In 2014, during the War in the Donbas, the motto of the event became "Single Country", which led to many previous theatres from Russia declining to attend, leading to more theatres from Belarus, Latvia, Hungary, and Portugal coming.^[12] In 2018, during one of the festival's largest years, 104 theatres from 61 cities across 15 countries showcased 232 productions at the festival.^[9] It is also noted for its role in helping found the "Ordinary Role – Special Actor" theatre in Kherson for children with disabilities.^[13] During the occupation of Kherson in 2022, for the first time, the festival was moved from Kherson to Lviv and it became a multi-location event with virtual performances.^[15] It featured 64 performances from 34 cities under the slogan "Melpomene is the voice of the Kherson region".^[16] The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also addressed the participants and highlighted the festival as a tool of resistance.^[15][17] It was also the first year the festival did not award prizes or have a jury because of the unequal conditions for participants from Eastern Ukraine.^[15] It also featured an "Education Platform" with online lectures and a literary stage involving international and Ukrainian authors with a special block dedicated to participants in theatre who were soldiers or volunteers.^[18]

Social projects

Knyha has been known for his push for social initiatives in Kherson. In January 2020, the theatre under his direction co-launched a mono-performance titled Illuzia (Illusion) in partnership with the Kherson branch of the International Anti-Drug Association..^[19] The show featured an actor who drew from his own life experiences with drug addiction.^[19] Knyha came up with the idea after visiting the drug association's therapy camp in Kyiv.^[19] Later that year, in December 2020, he initiated the "I Value Doctors" campaign during the Covid-19 pandemic.^[20] He invited members of the public to photograph themselves wearing a mask with the message "I wear a mask - I value doctors", which was then shared on social media.^[20] He did this to express solidarity with medical staff on the front lines.^[20] Three years later in 2023 Knyha became the head of the cultural delegation from Kherson to the Black Sea Games, which were held for the first time in Kyiv after its traditional venue of Skadovsk came under occupation.^[21]

He has also served as Chairman of the Eurasian Theatre Association and as a member of the Kherson Regional Council.^[22]