Topline
The Theater on Podil in Kyiv, Ukraine, reopened over the weekend for the first time since Russia invaded the country, the Associated Press reports, marking the latest cultural institution in Ukraine to reopen its doors as Russia’s military operation turns away from Kyiv and focuses more on the country’s eastern region.
Actor Iryna Gryshchenko prepares for her role in the ‘The Jay’s Wing’ at Theatre on Podil on June 04 … [+]
Key Facts
The Theater on Podil reopened to a series of sold-out performances, the AP reports, and the theater’s website shows many upcoming performances are already sold out until late June.
Actor Yuriy Felipenko told the news agency shows are being performed with only a few actors, and the theater’s website warns that if there’s an air raid, all audiences and theater staff will go to a shelter and then either resume performances once it ends, or the next morning if it goes on for more than an hour and a curfew is called.
The theater’s reopening comes after the opera in Kyiv reopened in late May, even as the Guardian reports many performers and musicians are either still abroad or are fighting in the war.
Many cinemas in Ukraine have also reopened, Ukrainian film buyer Polina Schlicht told Rolling Stone, and Box Office Mojo shows films were playing in at least 129 theaters the weekend of May 26-29—up from only at least 21 theaters May 12-15 and 11 theaters April 21-24.
Some museums in Ukraine have also reopened, including several branches of the National Art Gallery in Lviv, which the New York Times reports started reopening in early May.
Big Number
139. That’s the number of cultural sites in Ukraine that have been damaged or destroyed as of May 30, according to UNESCO, including 12 museums and 17 “buildings dedicated to cultural activities,” such as theaters in Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Crucial Quote
“You continue living, although you don’t forget that there is the war,” Theater on Podil actor Kostya Tomlyak told the AP. “The main question is how actors can be helpful.”
Key Background
The cultural institutions’ reopening comes as reports suggest normal life in Kyiv has in many ways resumed amid the war with Russia, as more residents returned to the nation’s capital in late April and May as fighting there went down. After unsuccessfully trying to capture the city in the early weeks of the war, Russia largely retreated from Kyiv and abandoned its military plans in the area, instead focusing the bulk of its military attention on Donbas and Ukraine’s eastern region. “We can live almost the same lives as before the war but with a few restrictions,” 25-year-old Kyiv resident Veronika Kozehedub told the Evening Standard in early May after returning to the city. “Kyiv is almost the same as always.” In addition to cultural institutions and other businesses, the U.S. and other countries have also reopened their embassies in Kyiv, with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken saying in mid-May when the embassy resumed operations that the people of Ukraine “have defended their homeland in the face of Russia’s unconscionable invasion, and, as a result, the Stars and Stripes are flying over the Embassy once again.”
Further Reading
Live updates | Kyiv theater reopens with soldout performance (Associated Press)
Bravo! Music at reopened Kyiv opera replaces noise of Russian artillery (The Guardian)
Lviv reopens art galleries ‘to show we are alive.’ (New York Times)
Movie Theaters in Ukraine Are Making a Surprising Comeback (Rolling Stone)
In Photos: Here Are The Ukrainian Cultural Sites Damaged Amid Russian Invasion (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/06/07/ukraines-cinemas-museums-and-theaters-start-reopening-as-russias-war-targets-cultural-sites/