Beginning in 1916, a group of young actors, united in a theater studio, actively worked on creating performances and performed them at various venues in Kyiv. Having received the premises at Proriznaya 17, they made repairs with their own hands and, at their own expense, equipped it for showing performances. Having a huge success with audiences and critics, the youth studio turned into the “Partnership on Faith – Young Theater”. Subsequently, the troupe abandoned collegial leadership, and the theater was headed by the outstanding theatrical philosopher and practitioner, director-teacher Les Stepanovich Kurbas. The then Young Theater did not exist for long, only two years (1917-1919) – revolutionary events forced Kurbas and the troupe to move to Kharkov, where the team dissolved into the First Theater of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic named after Taras Shevchenko. But these two years were enough for Young to stir up a real revolution in the theatrical world of young Ukraine. Under the leadership of Kurbas, Young declared war on theatrical routine, cliches, and artistic spinelessness.
In the fall of 1978, at the congress of the Leninist Communist Youth Union of Ukraine, Vladimir Shcherbitsky (first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine) gave a speech in which he noted that Kyiv needed a youth theater. Already in 1979, the Ministry of Culture of the Ukrainian SSR issued an order on the creation of the Youth Theater. The second birthday of the theater is considered to be December 14, 1979, when the first meeting of the troupe took place. The first performance of the Youth Theater is “…I will return to you in the spring!” – took place on April 26, 1980. In 1995, the name of the theater was changed to “Young Theater” – a tribute to the famous Ukrainian director-reformer Les Kurbas, who founded the “Young Theater” in the 1920s, which also worked in this very premises at 17 Prorizna Street.
Since 2012, the Young Theater has increased the number of premieres to 10 per season and is actively supporting the new generation of directors. The theater’s repertoire is expanding with dozens of performances by young directors on different stages. In addition to the main and chamber stages, the theater opened a third stage in 2014 – a microstage for directorial and acting debuts. Such organizational steps lead to a significant increase in the number of viewers compared to previous years, which indicates the growing love of viewers for “Young”.
Where is the Kiev academic “Young Theater”?
Proriznaya street, 17
(044) 278-73-92