Dig Deeper | A Harvest Truce
Exclusive Online Content
- Biography | Playwright Serhiy Zhadan
(by Professor Stefano Muneroni, PhD) - Interview | A conversation with displaced Ukrainian theatre artist and PhD Performance Studies student Lyudmyla Honcharova
(by Professor Melanie Dreyer-Lude, PhD) - Timeline | The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict
(by Professor Stefano Muneroni, PhD) - Interview | A conversation with Scenic/Prop & Costume Designer Stephanie Bahniuk
(by Professor Melanie Dreyer-Lude, PhD) - Director's Note | MFA Directing candidate Stanislav Tsybrukh
Biography of Serhiy Zhadan
Born in 1974, Serhiy Zhadan is one of the most important contemporary Ukrainian writers. Blending lyricism with political urgency, his works focus on describing Ukraine’s socio-cultural transformations and redefining its national identity in the post-independence era. Zhadan emerged in the 1990s as the enfant terrible of Ukraine’s avant-garde literary scene. His poetic voice draws on colloquialism, absurd and surreal imagery, and a deep sense of place—specifically eastern Ukraine’s industrial and borderland regions. Zhadan captures the disillusionment and resilience of a generation marked by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the search for meaning in a turbulent post-Soviet era. His anti-establishment and rebellious attitude extends also to music as Zhadan is an accomplished musician and the frontman of ‘Zhadan and the Dogs,’ a punk band that blends poetry, politics, and music.
Zhadan has published poetry collections and novels that have been translated into English and other languages, including Depeche Mode (2004), Voroshilovgrad (2010), and The Orphanage (2017). Voroshilovgrad, loosely based on Zhadan’s own story, received the Jan Michalski Prize for Literature and was adapted into a feature film. The Orphanage exposes the human cost of the war in the Donbas region of Ukraine through the eyes of a teacher, and it has received rave reviews for its emotional depth and literary heights. His first play, A Harvest Truce (2020), describes the lives of two brothers in eastern Ukraine at a time when peace is held together by a feeble ceasefire.
Zhadan has received many accolades throughout his career, including the BBC Ukraine Book of the Year, the Joseph Conrad-Korzeniowski Literary Award, the Brücke Berlin Prize; the Hubert Burda Prize, and the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, among many others.
Since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Zhadan has remained in Kharkiv, organizing humanitarian aid, supporting local communities, and advocating for Ukraine. He continues to serve as a public intellectual and an artist who draws on literature, theatre and poetry to document and bear witness to life’s hardships. His focus on Ukraine’s past and present during one of the most horrific moments of its history serves as a testament to the power of theatre and literature to resist, to dissent, and to write a better future.
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Written by Stefano Muneroni
Photo of Serhiy Zhadan by Mariusz Kubik, CC BY 4.0 <>, via Wikimedia Commons
BRIEF TIMELINE OF THE UKRAINIAN-RUSSIAN CONFLICT
Ukraine becomes an independent country (1991)
The Budapest Memorandum is signed (1994)
Ukraine returns all nuclear weapons on its territory to Russia.
Russia invades Crimea (2014)
In February 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, violating international law and Ukraine's territorial sovereignty.
War in Donbas Begins (2014)
Pro-Russian collaborators, backed by the Russian regular army, seized control of parts of eastern Ukraine. The conflict escalated and resulted in thousands of deaths and displacement.
Minsk Agreements (2014-2015)
The Minsk Protocols called for a ceasefire and exchange of prisoners, but these agreements were repeatedly violated.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is elected President of Ukraine (2019)
Russian full-scale Invasion of Ukraine begins (2022)
On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine, with attacks coming also from Belarus and the Donbas region. Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared martial law, while the military and civilians mounted a formidable defense.
Defense of Kyiv and Kharkiv (2022)
Russian forces advanced toward Kyiv, but they were stopped by the Ukrainian troops. The defense of the nation’s capital turned into a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
Russian massacres of civilians (2022)
After Russian forces withdrew from the outskirts of Kyiv, the world was shocked to discover mass graves and evidence of war crimes, especially in the village of Bucha.
Ukrainian Counteroffensive (2022-2023)
In the summer of 2022, Ukraine launched a heroic counteroffensive, retaking large swaths of land in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions. Ukrainian troops pushed back Russian forces, regaining strategic positions, while Russia kept the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia captured during the initial phase of the 2022 invasion.
Kherson Liberation (2022)
In November 2022, Ukrainian forces liberated the city of Kherson
Russian Bombing Campaign (2022-2023)
Russia increased its bombing of Ukrainian infrastructure, targeting electric power plants and civilian areas. Ukrainian civilians and soldiers resisted in the face of widespread destruction.
Ongoing Conflict and International Support (2023-2024)
Ukraine maintained strong resistance as the conflict became a prolonged war of attrition. The international community focused on providing Ukraine with advanced weapons, humanitarian aid, and diplomatic support.
The Battle for Bakhmut (2023)
Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine became one of the most brutal and symbolic battle sites of the war. Russia led for months intense and destructive attacks, and in May 2023, Ukrainian forces withdrew after months of defense.
Donald Trump is elected president of the U.S. (2024)
Trump had criticized U.S.’s financial support of Ukraine and expressed criticism of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump’s meetings with Putin and Zelenskyy did not lead to any peace agreement or sustained ceasefire (2025)
The war continues.
READ MORE:
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Prepared by Stefano Muneroni
Image source:
Director's Note | Stanislav Tsybrukh
When Harvest Truce was finally agreed as the opening to the 2025-2026 Studio Season, I realized what an enormous challenge the whole team is faced with. After the long creative journey, I can see they dealt with this challenge brilliantly.
The road to choosing and staging this play wasn't easy either, given the complexity of the artistic challenges during the production. The problem of finding a quality piece lasts for centuries and hasn't been solved as theatre folks would desire.
Harvest Truce is undoubtedly an artistically quality play, and that is why it has won an award in Great Britain, which opened the way to sponsoring the English translation. It is extremely hard to write a nice piece immediately after serious events take place, bringing dramatic power and all-encompassing to high standards. Serhiy Zhadan - one of the most talented Ukrainian contemporary writers - did that brilliantly. Despite the fact that the distance from the events depicted is quite short, only six years, it does provide a wholesome view of the subject.
As my thesis production, I wanted to find a meaningful Ukrainian play that satisfies the quality of writing and complexity of the modern world. When I first heard about the Harvest Truce, I felt a tickling that it might be the play I was looking for. And after reading the Ukrainian script, I knew it was the play I wanted. It had a rare connection of my ideas with the author's ideas; however, we see the world of the piece from slightly different angles.
The Internet was full of mentions of the English translation, but I couldn't find it anywhere! I decided to contact Nina Murray, the translator, and it turned out the translation hasn't been published yet.
Due to the unlimited kindness of Nina and the Ukrainian Research Institute of Harvard University, we were allowed to work on the draft of the play.
Dear audience, this is more than just an exclusive show - it was pure luck that it happened.
Despite the fact that Ukraine has been and is a part of the Western world, little is known about the country. Perhaps, the Soviet occupation was the cause of this phenomenon. The Canadian actors experienced a huge informational and mental gap while working on the play. They had their hardships and wandered artistic mazes, but they succeeded because they are hard-working and brave artists.
World media leaves us with loud headlines and shakingly violent but repetitive war footage. Yet, what do we know about what is behind an ordinary "small person" who faces global historical shifts? It is believed that we, as small people, can't do much, but at this point of transition into a new stage of history, the constancy of ordinary people can influence global events.
After all, Harvest Truce conveys a specific artistic image of dignity and resilience, a story that is deeply humane and powerful. The dignity stems from the play's core idea that a person has sense and meaning.
There is an indirect but recognizable call to become more self-conscious and build a new world where our strength of spirit has a leading role.
The old world is fading away, and a new one is painfully coming into being.
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Written by Stanislav Tsybrukh
Photo supplied
Published September 2025