The Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings is a global initiative launched by John Freedman in the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Soon after the war began, Freedman began organizing the translation of new works by Ukrainian playwrights, many of which provided first hand narratives of the invasion. CITD worked in tandem with John as he recruited, encouraged, and aided hundreds of theatres around the world to mount readings of the plays. CITD was especially instrumental in working with Maksym Kurochkin’s Theater of Playwrights in Kyiv.

The readings have multiple purposes, functioning both as a platform for exploring Ukrainian national identity and resilience, as a rallying cry of international support for Ukraine, and, specifically, an avenue to collecting donations for Ukrainian charities. Theatres and artists across the US, Ukraine, Europe, and the UK have risen to the call, with over 580 events happening worldwide (as of early May 2024). It is a major stipulation of the program that every non-commercial event serve as a fundraising opportunity. While it is impossible to know exactly how much money has been raised collectively over the two+ years of the program’s life, the amount easily exceeds half a million dollars in aid for Ukrainian charities and initiatives.

CITD has provided crucial support to dozens of Ukrainian playwrights, many of whom are actively involved in resisting the Russian invasion or have been displaced from their homes, and are seeking refuge abroad. This support includes commissioning approximately 30 new texts, and providing $1,000 grants to 30 individual writers. CITD fully funded a major initiative of the Theater of Playwrights in late 2022, providing full financial support for a festival-competition in search of new directors who could work with contemporary Ukrainian texts. The success of the competition surpassed everyone’s expectations, and many of the barebones sketches created for the competition were subsequently worked into full productions, several of which remain in repertory at the theater. Many of the short plays originally commissioned by CITD were compiled in an anthology, A Dictionary in the Time of Emotions, curated by Freedman and available through Laertes Press. Freedman also published a full personal account of how the Worldwide​ Play Readings were created in support of Ukraine and, previously, Belarus in the article Necessity as the Mother of Invention which first appeared in TDR: The Drama Review, a journal by Cambridge University Press.
 

As the initiative progresses, the database of texts continues to expand, offering theaters worldwide a rich resource to engage with and stage productions that amplify Ukrainian voices and narratives. To date, the database includes: