In Kropyvnytskyi, a temporary director of the Corypheiv Theater was appointed

A Ukrainian director became the temporary artistic director of the theater named after Mark Kropyvnytskyi Evgeny Lavrenchuk.

In the comment for UP. Culture Yevhen Lavrenchuk said that cooperation with the Kropyvnytskyi Theater began with an invitation from its current former manager Serhiy Kornienko. He offered Lavrenchuk to stage a play at the Corypheiv Theater.

“I have such a passion – seeing the theatrical body, I immediately start an audit, both creative and marketing-managerial. For Serhii, I drew up a strategy for the development of the theater for the next 4 years, and he liked it very much. He introduced her to his employees, his deputies, and they also learned about her in the administration of the regional council“, – Lavrenchuk said.

Kyiv director Serhii Kornienko headed the Corypheiv Theater in Kropyvnytskyi from September 2023.

The reason for the change of director was the decision of the investigating judge, who suspended the artistic director of the Theater Serhiy Kornienko. He is suspected of bribery, and the pre-trial investigation is still ongoing. As reported Socially, the man wanted to hire a graphic designer for the theater for 3.5 thousand dollars. Kornienko himself emphasized that he was framed, and that the conflict was “related to politics.”

The order on the appointment of Yevhen Lavrenchuk as acting director of the Theater was signed by the head of the Kirovohrad Regional Council Yuriy Drozd. It states that Lavrenchuk took office from March 22, 2024 to May 14, 2024, inclusive.

After Serhiy Kornienko’s arrest, Lavrenchuk was called to a meeting at the Kropyvnytskyi Regional Council, where he received an offer to head the Corypheiv Theater on the recommendation of the same Kornienko.

“This is not in dispute with Sergey’s activities and that now something new will happen. Rather, it is a logical and organic continuation of the collaboration that we began as a director-producer“, – Yevhen Lavrenchuk added.

Commenting on the detention of his colleague, Lavrenchuk emphasized that it was a “staged action”.

Among the very first steps in his new position, Yevhen Lavrenchuk named the creation of a director’s board. According to him, the advisory body will work on the repertoire, create concepts for months ahead, as well as develop directions and stylization of the theater season. The director noted that work on the concepts has already begun, however, until specific positioning for the audience is determined, he will not divulge details.

Corypheiv Theater – one of the first professional theaters of Ukraine. Its founder was a playwright and director in 1882 Marko Kropyvnytskyiand continued the case Mykola Sadovskyi. They joined the troupe from the beginning Ivan Karpenko-Karyy, Mykola Sadovskyi, Mykhailo Starytskyi, Maria Zankovetska. The Corypheiv Theater cooperated with Ukrainian composers: Petro Nishchynskyi, Kyryll Stetsenko and Mykola Lysenko.

The theater in Kropyvnytskyi works to this day as a regional music and drama theater. It stages plays based on the plays of the founders-luminaries and other Ukrainian and foreign playwrights.

Who is Yevhen Lavrenchuk

The new temporary artistic director of the theater Yevhen Lavrenchuk is a theater director, producer and manager. He staged more than 30 theater plays. Since 2021, he has the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine, he also received awards for services to the culture of Poland and Israel.

The director received a number of awards in Ukraine: the Les Kurbas Award for the opera production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata”, the winner of the All-Ukrainian Theater Festival-Award “GRA” for the same work, was nominated for the Shevchenko Prize in 2021.

From 2018 to 2020, he headed the Odessa National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet. In 2021, the management of the theater broke off cooperation with the director, with which he categorically disagreed. The National Committee of the Shevchenko Prize came to his defense. At that time, the representatives of the award noted that the committee was receiving suspicious letters with a request not to award Lavrenchuk.

Instead, the management of the Odessa Opera reported that the Ukrainian Cultural Fund filed a lawsuit in 2020 against the director’s charitable organization “The Charity Fund of the Odessa National Opera”.

He was demanded to return about 700,000 hryvnias for the unrealized project of an inclusive choir and orchestra. Subsequently, Lavrenchuk entered into an agreement with UKF on the gradual return of funds.

After that incident, Lavrenchuk withdrew his candidacy for the position of chief director and did not renew the contract with the institution.

He received his professional education at the Russian Academy of Theater Arts in Moscow, where he took advanced directing courses. He collaborated there with the famous Russian director of Ukrainian origin Roman Viktyuk.

In 2002, Lavrenchuk created the “Polish Theater in Moscow”. After the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014 and the start of the war in the East of Ukraine, the director left Russia, and called the policy of the Russian Federation “criminal”. The theater ceased its activities in 2015.

Yevhen Lavrenchuk was detained in Italy at Russia’s request for extradition in 2021. Allegedly, he carried out financial frauds in the amount of 4 million rubles while he was working in the country. Ukrainian artists came to his support, diplomats and politicians also joined. In March 2022, the Naples Court of Appeal rejected the request of the Russian Federation due to the political nature of the charges and removed the director from the Interpol lists.