Valeriy Haydabura

Corresponding Member of the NAA of Ukraine

Illustration

Valeriy Haydabura

    born in 1937

Art Historian, Researcher of the History of Ukrainian Theatre

    Corresponding Member of the NAA of Ukraine (2004)

    Merited Cultural Worker of Ukraine (1990)

    PhD in Art History (2000) 

The primary focus of Valeriy Haydabura’s research lies in the study of the history of theatrical art in Ukraine during the period of Nazi occupation and within the Ukrainian diaspora in Germany, France, the United States, Canada, and Australia. While serving as the Deputy General Director for Creative Affairs at the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatr e(until July 2018), he conducted an in-depth study of the historical legacy of Ukraine’s foremost theater. He collected extensive documentary and iconographic materials that highlight the creative achievements of the theater’s artists.
This work remains central to his scholarly pursuits today. Currently engaged in independent creative work, Haydabura continues his research, actively gathering and classifying archival materials and uncovering little-known or previously unexplored facts about the creative legacy of the Ivan Franko Theatre’s actors across different eras. His series of thematic publications about prominent theater artists, including P. Nyatko, K. Osmyalovska, K. Koshevskyi, V. Dobrovolskyi, and K. Luchytska, is widely recognized.
Haydabura is actively involved in the scholarly community and has been repeatedly elected as a member of the Academic Council of the Les Kurbas National Center for Theatrical Arts. He also serves on the editorial boards of several leading art history publications, such as Art Studies of Ukraine, Ukrainian Theater, and Proscenium.
His major scholarly works include Zaporizhzhia Theatre Named After M. Shchors (1979), Volodymyr Hrypych (1984), Yelyzaveta Khutorna (1984), Theatre Hidden in Archives (1998), Theatre Between Hitler and Stalin (2004), The Flying Ship of Lidiia Krushelnytska (2006), Theatrical Autographs of Time (2007), What Does Dad Do at the Theatre? (2011), Theatre Scattered Across the World (2013), “Zahrava” – The Ukrainian Theatre of Canada (co-authored, 2013), The First Stage of Ukraine: Fragments of History (2014), and Hanna Borysohlibska: Life and Immortality of a Master of the Unified Ukraine Stage (2017).