LINKAGES
LINKAGES
linkages:
ukraine
about
LINKAGES:Ukraine is a multi-year program connecting U.S. and Ukrainian playwrights by way of sustained artistic exchange. Through reciprocal staged readings, artist conversations, and ongoing exchange, LINKAGES introduces American plays to Ukrainian audiences and Ukrainian plays to U.S. theatres. The program grew out of CITD’s Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings and its long-standing LINKAGES model of international exchange.
how LINKAGES works
Artist pods
Small groups of Ukrainian and US playwrights meet virtually to discuss artistic process and build relationships for future collaborations
artist exchange
Artists encounter each other's work and communities through travel/festivals
reciprocal readings
Ukrainian plays are presented in the U.S.; American plays are presented in Ukraine
long-term collaboration
Connections continue into translations, productions, festivals, commissions, workshops, etc
why this
work matters
Russia’s war against Ukraine is also an assault on Ukrainian culture, language, and identity. Every play staged, every script written, and every actor stepping onstage in Ukrainian pushes back against an imperial narrative that denies the existence of a distinct Ukrainian culture.
At the same time, Ukrainian playwrights are developing new theatrical languages, styles, and themes in response to a country undergoing profound change. LINKAGES brings American artists into direct exchange with this rich theatre culture, while bringing Ukrainian voices and work to audiences abroad. The exchange runs in both directions, creating relationships and artistic influence that can endure long beyond the initial encounter.
AMERICAN PLAYS IN UKRAINE
frontline cities
In cities near Ukraine's frontlines, theatres are introducing audiences and artists to contemporary American plays. Readings have continued despite air raids, power outages, and the daily realities of war, often moving underground when necessary.
Central to LINKAGES' growth is CITD's partnership with playwright and director Dmytro Ternovyi and Theatre na Zhukakh in Kharkiv.
This partnership has expanded LINKAGES across the country. In 2026, for the first time, two contemporary American plays will receive full productions at major Ukrainian theatres in Sumy and Mykolaiv. Four readings will take place in Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Odesa.
Ukraine's oldest independent publishing house, Folio, will also publish an anthology of the plays that have been performed, the first collection of contemporary American drama published in Ukrainian.
a Festival of American plays in Kyiv
The Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre, located in Kyiv and one of Ukraine's most important cultural institutions, invited CITD to partner on a multi-day festival of contemporary American plays in translation.
This festival, the first of which is tentatively planned for February 2027, will feature staged readings of six major contemporary American plays, as well as lectures and artist exchanges.
relationships in action
LINKAGES brings artists and theatres together. From there, relationships evolve in their own ways, often leading somewhere unexpected. Scroll through below to see some relationships in action.
VOYAGE Theatre: from readings to full productions
In 2025, LINKAGES connected Wayne Maugans' Voyage Theater Company and Dmytro Ternovyi's Theatre Na Zhukakh in Kharkiv and in New York through a theatre-to-theatre exchange with support from Kyiv's Ukrainian Institute.
This relationship is now moving from readings to production. In February 2027, Voyage will develop a play by Ukrainian playwright Alina Sarnatska in workshop, with a full production planned for 2027.
program partners
Theatre na Zhukah, Kharkiv
Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga, Tennessee
Voyage Theatre, NYC
Kvitka-Osnovianenko Theater, Kharkiv
Mykolaiv Art Drama Theater
Pintagon Art Club, Kharkiv
Ukrainian Institute of America, NYC
Rehearsal for Truth Festival, NYC
Open Theatre, Kharkiv
Amplify and Ignite Symposium, NYU
Albuquerque Fringe Festival, New Mexico
Vasylko Theater of Ukrainian Music and Drama, Odesa
Dnipro Theater of Drama and Comedy
Magar Regional Theater of Ukrainian Music and Drama, Zaporizhizhia
Shchepkin National Theater of Drama and Musical Comedy, Sumy
KONTAKT Festival, Poland
The Ukrainian Institute, Kyiv
press
Theatre During Wartime: A Report From Ukraine - American Theatre
CITD’s LINKAGES Projects Help Artists Stand Strong in Difficult Times - HowlRound
Documenting the Art of Playwriting in Times of Crisis with LINKAGES: Ukraine - HowlRound
The Rise of Ukrainian Drama in English-Language Podcasts - Ukrainian Drama Translations
War Pivots and a Pinch of Snuff: Kontakt Highs in Poland - American Theatre
Theatrical art unites continents and peoples: Mykolaiv residents introduced to modern dramaturgy of the US - Mykolaiv Regional News
Mykolaiv Drama Theater surprises again: the new project united Ukraine and the United States - Mykolaiv News
READ MORE: All LINKAGES:Ukraine Press
with support from
special thanks
Richard Mennen
Peter Greenleaf
The Arnoult Family