The history of the Luhansk Regional Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theatre begins in the difficult times of World War II. In 1941, the Kharkiv Ukrainian Drama Theatre was created, which was supposed to serve hospitals and military units. That is why its first performances were held in submarines, hospitals, and at the airfields of the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia, and the Black Sea Fleet. 

In 1944, after Ukraine was liberated from the Nazi occupation, the theatre company relocated to Voroshylovhrad (a former name of Luhansk). However, all suitable city stages were destroyed, so performances took place in restored mines, on construction sites, and in fields during sowing campaigns throughout the region. 

In the autumn of 1945, the Luhansk Drama Theatre opened its first season with outstanding Ukrainian drama performances: ‘Oi ne khody Hrytsiu ta i na vechornytsi’ (‘Hryts, Don’t Go to the Evening Dances’) by Mykhailo Starytsky and ‘Ukradene shchastia’ (‘Stolen Happiness’) by Ivan Franko. For years, the theatre staged classics of Ukrainian drama by Ivan Karpenko-Kary, Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Mykhailo Starytsky, Semen Hulak-Artemovsky, Ivan Kotliarevsky, and Taras Shevchenko. 

In 1962, the Soviet authorities decided to merge the Ukrainian and Russian drama theatres, which had a devastating impact on the Ukrainian theatre. Its staff was nearly disbanded and would not begin to reunite until the following year. Thus, until 1990, the two theatres coexisted. During this time period, the theatre repertoire started featuring contemporary plays by Ukrainian authors as well as European classics by Shakespeare, Molière, and others.

In the early 2000s, Luhansk Drama Theatre held 300 performances every year with an audience of 75 thousand. Just before the start of its 59th season, the theatre finally got its own home in the reconstructed Palace of Builders in Luhansk.  

However, in 2014, the company was forced to relocate due to Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine. The theatre moved to a building in Sievierodonetsk that was designed by Ukrainian architect Olha Neslukhovska and constructed in 1953, formerly housing the Chemists’ Club cinema. When the building was handed over to the Luhansk Drama Theatre, it was in a state of disrepair: there were no rooms for rehearsals, dressing rooms, or workshops, the stage was unsuitable for performances, and the auditorium was devoid of seats.

In 2016, the building was reconstructed, and the theatre troupe was also reorganised, gathering almost 100 actors who had to flee occupied Luhansk. Luhansk theatre resumed its performances in evacuation.

In the spring of 2022, the Luhansk Drama Theatre lost its home again. During Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the Russians directed enormous military resources to seize the entire Luhansk region. For four months, the defenders of Sievierodonetsk held the city under incessant fire from Russian aircraft and artillery. The city has changed beyond recognition. The theatre building, sheltering civilians in its basement, did not survive either. Due to the occupation of the city and constant shelling, the fate of these people still remains unknown. 

The site that once held memories has now turned into a memory itself.