Experimental Theatre Laboratory

“Experimental Theatre Laboratory” — an artistic residency for theatre practitioners and performers in Dnipro.

The laboratory became a space for experimentation and learning in a comfortable environment. Participants, selected through an open call, learned to interact with space and the audience through their own body, movement, dynamics, and rhythm, following the methodology of Jacques Lecoq. They also exchanged experiences with other actors and directors.

The residency lasted two weeks — from October 15 to 26, 2024. It included movement sessions, workshops, and a lecture component. Participants worked under the guidance of actor, teacher, and founder of the artistic collective “Hvylya” Mykola Naboka.

Lecturers of the program included: — scenographer, theatre artist, and lecturer at KNUKiT Petro Bohomazov; — director, theatre artist, and cultural manager Olha Turutia-Prasolova; — director of the Kharkiv Puppet Theatre, theatre scholar, and theatre figure Oksana Dmytrieva; — composer and opera author Illia Razumeyko; — cultural manager and co-founder of the Antonin Artaud Scholarship Olha Diatel; — actor, theatre figure, and director Artem Vusyk.

The results of the laboratory were presented in a pop-up exhibition and performance of works in motion. The exhibition included works created during workshop sessions, where participants learned to translate the experience of body movement into volumetric forms, structures, collages, and sketches.

The culmination of the laboratory was a spatial-dynamic exploration of the poetry of Kharkiv artist and military officer Oleh Kadanov, which was also presented at the final event of the practical part of the residency.

The project is the winner of the Per Forma grant program, organized by the Kyiv Contemporary Music Days platform, with the support of the Performing Arts Fund NL and the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science of the Netherlands to develop the sector of performative arts in Ukraine.