Activists of Odesa are ready to save the Ukrainian Vasylko theater – what happened

The Odesa theater community was shaken by alarming news: Yulia Pyvovarova, the director of the Vasylko Drama Theater, may be removed from the management of the institution. And this is after she managed to save the team during a large-scale invasion, the theater staged several high-profile premieres and attracts the most famous actors and directors to them.

Read also: To the sounds of the siren and remembering the overthrown Kateryna: a Hutsul western is being rehearsed in Odessa’s Vasylko Theater

On March 29, the play “Sasha, take out the trash” was shown in the theater. At the end of the show, a fire broke out in the technical room of the theater. Spectators were evacuated from the theater, the State Emergency Service reported that the area of ​​the fire was 20 square meters.

On Monday, April 3, theater director Yulia Pyvovarova was summoned to the regional council for explanations. Her contract has expired and she is now managing the theater in an acting capacity. Open competitions for positions may or may not be held at the discretion of local governing bodies. UP. Life decided to find out what was going on.

Director of the recent premiere of the Vasylka Theater “Hutsul Western” and the play “Sasha, take out the trash” Maxim Golenko one of the first to report the alarming news. On his Facebook page, he wrote that the theater in this form may not exist soon. And if Pyvovarov is fired, he will also be forced to resign.

Later, a woman from Odessa and a local political expert provided more detailed information Zoya Kazanzhi. From her post, it became known that the acting director of the Vasylka Theater was urgently summoned to the Odesa Regional Council.

UP. Life appealed to both of them to explain what was happening. According to Zoya Kazanzha, head of the Odesa Regional Council Hryhoriy Didenko allegedly accuses the head of the theater, Yulia Pivovarova, that the fire happened due to the careless attitude of the theater workers:

“In general, Hryhoriy Didenko had a normal attitude towards the theater, but then the trash began, because he told Pivovarova that there was no performance that day – as if they were sitting and drinking in the theater under the stage and something caught fire. I was present at the performance – I watched it for the third time, the director of the tourism department, the cultural advisor of the city council Olena Pavlova was also there. When the fire started, we were in the basement, which accommodates about 90 people. The performance came to an end – and literally in the last seconds they started showing us how to get out, the fire brigade arrived – there were a lot of cars, everything was quickly liquidated“, – Kazanzhi said.

Read also: To the sounds of the siren and remembering the overthrown Kateryna: a Hutsul western is being rehearsed in Odessa’s Vasylko Theater

After the firemen left, the visitors of the performance remained to discuss the incident.

“We discussed this, knowing the skepticism surrounding Yulia, who is now simply being kept on the hook – her contract has expired and it’s like “we’ll see what we have to do with you.” No one claimed, but everyone discussed that it was a very strange fire. On the morning of April 3, Julia was called to the Administration. The tragedy of the situation is that today is the funeral Eugene Buber – Yulia’s adviser, the former director of TYUU – a well-known person in Odesa, who died of cancer in less than a year. Today they are burying him – this is a loss for Odessa“, – Kazanzhi said.

The activist emphasized that the fire protection system was replaced in the Vasylka Theater relatively recently – during the lockdown. She also reported that she has information that they are trying to remove Yuliya Pyvovarova and put in her place a person close to the leadership of the local authorities, in particular the former head of the Odesa regional administration Serhii Hrynevetskyi.

“Rumors are actively spreading around the theater that Yuliya wants to be cleaned, because the nephew of assistant Serhii Hrynevetskyi is applying for this position. The surname of Hrynevetsky is worth mentioning only in connection with the fact that he was one of the organizers of the separatist congress in Severodonetsk. This political corpse was raised by Zelenskyi, appointing him to the position of head of the Odesa regional administration in 2020. This is a person who sat in the bush during the first days of a full-scale war – when people were already stopping tanks with their bare hands. Then he was released (March 1, 2022 – ed.) and Maksym Marchenko came – a combat colonel who had a very cool reputation. But Hrynevetskyi remained his adviser“, – told UP. Life Zoya Kazandzhi.

Read also: What gives Odesa the status of a UNESCO monument: Odesa activists assess

She noted that Hrynevetskyi, while in power, often paid attention to cultural institutions, in particular, he modernized Russian theaters – at the expense of the state.

“Hrynevetsky took care of the Theater of Russian Drama named after Ivanov – then everyone talked about how Hrynevetsky renovated the theater – the seats were changed at the expense of the state. In general, he is actively engaged in culture – because culture has an influence. I know that later he seriously set his eye on drum art“, – Kazanzhi said.

According to the activist, this situation with the theater is not exceptional – the name of Hrynevetsky appeared in the scandal with the Odessa Opera, when in 2021 its chief director was removed Evgeny Lavrenchuk. Eugene won an open competition for this position and tried to modernize the theater. However, on the eve of the end of his three-year term, he was attacked, harassed and eventually withdrew his candidacy from the next competition.

Read also: How to write about war in war and why the enemy should (not) be depicted as primitive: theater artists tell

Before that, a similar story happened with Serhii Proskurnaya in 2009 – the famous Ukrainian director was invited to manage the Odesa Opera House, but he held the post of general director for only 80 days. Since 2010, the Odesa Opera has always been led by Nadia Babich.

“When we here are gnawing away the space of Ukrainian culture from the Russian world by the centimeter, they now want to return Hrynevetskyi and his team to us again “albeit as a stuffed animal or a carcass”. We already had as an example the case with Yevhen Lavrenchuk, Serhii Proskurnaya… Nadiya Babich is a good person, but that’s not what it’s about. She has been the head of the Odesa Opera for many years, worked under Hrynevetskyi as the head of the culture department. Then, when Serhiy Proskurnia was destroyed, she was placed as a temporary figure, which has been there for 13 years.“, says the activist.

According to Kazanzhi, the fire protection system was modernized in the theater during the lockdown.

“Not so long ago, the system was replaced in the Odesa Art Museum, in the Vasylka Theater – in such truly important institutions for the Ukrainian city of Odesa. They unite our bubbles around them, they are truly important centers of Ukrainian development. This was followed. Moreover, when the full-scale invasion began, the theater resumed its work very quickly. The stage was working in the shelter – the place under the stage was converted, and in March the first performances began. Two months ago, Yuliya Pivovarova applied because the fire protection system needed to be upgraded again. The Regional Council agreed, money was allocated and they started these works“, says Kazanzhi.

Zoya Kazanzhi noted that the uncontrolled situation in Odesa is particularly connected with the lack of full-fledged leaders in responsible positions.

“We currently do not have a head of the regional administration, we do not have a regional prosecutor – there are no people who are responsible. Acting it’s so-soZoya Kazanzhi stressed.

However, the civil society in Odesa is ready to defend the Vasylka Theater, which was the first to work during the war and became almost the only center of Ukrainian culture in the theater life of Odesa.

“This situation can become a catalyst. Because yesterday they saw how quickly the issue was resolved in Khmelnytskyi – when the military priests kicked the military priests – the people simply came out and said: “Out with the Moscow priests.” We know how such pickets end. They write to me that people are ready to leave – and something could be the last straw. We will have a serious zone of instability in Odessa. And only because we understand the responsibility – this has not happened yet“, says Kazanzhi.

The main director of the theater Vasylka Maxim Golenko said in a comment on UP.Zhyttya that after numerous publicity in social networks, the situation allegedly improved. Contrary to fears, Yuliya Pivovarova remains the acting director of the Vasylka Theater.

“There is a chance that we fought back a little – because there was a lot of publicity. Our government crawls anywhere, but when active resistance begins – they are afraid, crawl back for a while, lick their woundsGolenko commented.

According to the chief director, the change of management is initiated due to the fact that the theater after the renovation has become quite a delicacy for the authorities, who are used to using cultural institutions for other purposes.

“The theater is losing a beautiful renovation – we were so happy about it, but now you can only imagine how much you can rent here now. Unfortunately, no one is interested in the fact that there is a full-fledged troupe and now our theater is one of the best in Ukraine. I think that the authorities do not consider it that way – they will be surprised that a corpse is added to the building. I understand that our hospitals have already been altered – now it is the turn of the theaters. In reality, this place is being prepared for a certain personGolenko noted.

According to Golenka, the team will fight to the last, but if the local authorities still risk appointing “their” leader, the people will simply leave.

“Yulia is now an acting director – the administration informed that they could not sign a contract with her as a director – during the war. Yulia is an effective manager Over 5 years, it is clear that not everything was smooth – there were mistakes. But now we are one of the best theaters in Ukraine. They survived epidemics, a year of active military operations. In the summer, they recruited a corpse – no less beautiful than it was. I had 6 actors left in the spring – the rest left and went to the front“, says Golenko.

According to the director, the change of manager will destroy the pro-Ukrainian position of the theater and the vector that was created during the time when Pivovarova became the director.

“People go to the theater to work for directors, managers, projects. And the audience goes to see it. Now we have enough stellar performances. And we can finally see full houses again – at the same “Carpathian Western” (the recent premiere at the Vasylka Theater – ed.) the hall was completely packed with young people – this is another audience. But we can lose it all just because someone wanted to stuff their relative“, says the director.

He emphasizes that the work of the Ukrainian theater is especially important in Odesa, which has not had such a cluster for a long time.

“This is a pro-Ukrainian story. This is a big responsibility for us – we have state theaters nearby that work in Russian. We are the only representatives of such a plan – there are many modern plays, it is very popular, and classics. We are not an entertainment institution – we build a dialogue with the audience. We try to work in any conditions – but if something hostile comes from the inside – it is clear that we can really lose the theaterGolenko commented.

UP. Life turned to the Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy for a comment Galina Hryhorenko – she noted that she is in Odesa on business and intends to find out about the situation in the Vasylka Theater.

“I can’t comment on anything yet, because I don’t have all the details – I’ve only seen what is available in the mass media and social networks. I am going on a business trip to Odessa and plan to meet with the director of the theater and the regional administration to find out what is going on. Of course, if it turns out that there are any attempts to simply displace the manager, it is inappropriate. All the more so in wartime and when the theater began quite active work and there are already several premieres with modern young directors. All the same, it is necessary to continue the activities of cultural institutions, and especially now“, – commented Halyna Grihorenko. She also promised to provide a comment after communicating with the director of the Vasylka Theater and the local authorities.

We also reached out to Yulia Pyvovarova and Odesa Regional Council for comments. We are waiting for an answer.