HISTORY OF THE THEATER

"Vie" is for "life" in French

The first independent experimental theater in Zaporizhzhia appeared in 1991. It was called “Free Space of Game”. In November 1991 the authors presented to the public the premiere “The Fourth Chair” (by T. Guerra) directed by Viktor Popov in collaboration with a Moscow screenwriter, playwright and director Klim. Lyubov Frygan and Serhii Tsevelyov performed the play. Therefore, the day of the premiere – November 30, 1991 – is considered as the birthday of the theater-laboratory “VIE”. Although officially the reorganization of the theater took place only in early 1993. Director Viktor Popov became the artistic director of a new theater space.

Nowadays VIE is known as a theater on the island of Khortytsia, but it hadn’t always been the case. The theater moved to the building in the heart of the Cossack capital only in 1995. However, they started to play on the stage of this very theatrical space only three years later due to renovations. On December 25, 1998, the official opening of the first theatrical season took place on Khortytsia island. Opened with the premiere of the play “Oh, Happy Days” by S. Beckett. The roles were performed by Iryna Nemelianen, Tetiana Kurochkina, Serhii Tsevelyov, Dmytro Moskovtsev, Mykola Makhevskyi, Yevhen Dzyga. Director – Victor Popov.

Since then, the Zaporizhia Municipal Theater-Laboratory “VIE” has been waiting for spectators on Khortytsia Island, Science Town, building 35.

VIE Theater has repeatedly participated in various festivals and each time its actors, directors and performances have been awarded various prizes, diplomas, certificates and rewards.

In 2005, the theater-laboratory launched its own theatrical festival – the famous “Golden Khortytsia”. So in September 2005, theaters from different cities of Ukraine and Russia gathered on the island. Among the participants there were the AS Theater (St. Petersburg), Zhuky (Donetsk) with the avant-garde performance “Chapaiev and the Emptiness” based on V. Pelevin’s novel, Studio 69 (Moscow), and the Theater in a Basket (Kyiv and Lviv), Kyiv Center for Contemporary Art “DAKH”.

Within a year, on September 21, 2006, the II Open Theater Festival “Golden Khortytsia”, which was attended by many more participants, took place.

The new phase of theater’s history started in 2018. The artistic director of the VIE Theater, actress of the theater Olga Leshchova, started a new form of communication with the theater’s fans – salon concerts of local musicians and talents.

The repertoire of 2018 included premiers of “L’Orchester” (based on J. Anuy’s play), a black comedy “Me. Bunny” (based on a play written by V. Chensky), a monobomb “Otvietka@UA” (based on Neda Nezhdana’s play), a tragicomedy “The Monster” (based on a play written by Marius von Mayenburg) and a children’s interactive fairy tale “Merry Adventures of Neznayko”.

2019 was no less busy for the theater. The main event of the year – the first All-Ukrainian festival of theaters-laboratories “VIEFest-2019”, that was organized and hosted by the VIE Theatre with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. Dance, poetry, experimental, children’s theater groups from Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chernihiv, Lviv, Kherson, Rivne, Kyiv, Chernivtsi and Zaporizhia had been performing their shows for three days at various venues.

The premiere performances of 2019 – “The Adventure of Panda Bears, Told by a Saxophonist Who Had a Girlfriend in Frankfurt” (directed by Denys Astafyev) and “The Demons” (directed by Yasha Gudzenko-Tobilevich) – caused a real theatrical furor.

Many theatergoers will remember 2020 with quarantine restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the theater did not stop and continued to rehearse and delight its fans with new performances. Among them is Denys Astafyev’s monologue based on Alessandro Baricco’s play “The 900th Does Not Go Ashore”. In addition, in collaboration with the creative project “Corybant” the play “Husband for a Rent” (based on D. Churchill’s “Decorator”) was created. At the initiative of the National Art Project “ART Armistice”, the theater performed a New Year’s program “St. Nicholas in the world of TikTok” in the cities nearby the ATO zone.

The year 2020 ended with a creative project “KVARTYRNYK. VIE”: bands “Banderstadt ZP” and “Social Enemy” presented a concert-mystery for St. Nicholas Day “Against the Night”.

Of course, this is not the end of the theater’s story, so… to be continued!