From June to October 2025, the National Union of Theater Actors of Ukraine is holding a free Musical Laboratory for playwrights and composers. The selected participants will work in creative duos to create librettos and music for new stage works based on Ukrainian literature, historical events and biographies of prominent Ukrainians. About this informs State Agency of Ukraine for Arts and Art Education.
“The musical laboratory is our first step in the direction of the development of this particular genre, and we are sincerely glad to open a new page in the history of modern Ukrainian theater. At the same time, this is already the sixth project of the union aimed at creating new dramatic works.
Previously, we held five dramaturgy laboratories, during which about 50 plays were written, and almost 40% of them have already found their embodiment on the stages of Ukrainian theaters.”, – explained the head of the National Union of Theater Actors of Ukraine Bohdan Strutynskyi.
A musical is a synthetic theatrical genre that combines drama, music, song and choreography. He is able to simultaneously entertain and raise important social, historical or personal topics in a form accessible to the modern viewer. In the Ukrainian theater, the musical still has a significant unrealized potential, so the purpose of the Laboratory is to support authors who strive to create meaningful and relevant musical and stage works.
The laboratory will become a space for experimentation, creative dialogue and the search for new forms within Ukrainian musical theater. Its task is the development of cooperation between playwrights and composers and the creation of modern musicals that will complement the repertoire of Ukrainian theaters. At all stages, the participants will be accompanied by curators – playwright and writer Lena Lyagushonkova and chief conductor of the National Operetta of Ukraine, teacher Serhiy Didok.
The program will consist of three stages: the first residency will last from July 4 to 9, the second is scheduled for the end of August, and performative presentations of the created works will take place in October. The project also includes lectures, master classes, discussions, consultations, and work in pairs between a playwright and a composer. It is expected to create five librettos and five musical numbers, which will be presented on the stages of Ukrainian theaters in front of the public and the professional community.
Participation in the project is free. To join, you must apply by June 14, 2025. The list of participants will be announced after June 20, 2025. The laboratory is implemented with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation within the framework of the “Culture during the War” competitive program.
