Oleksandr Knyga

Oleksandr Andriyovych Knyha (; born 26 March 1959) is a Ukrainian theatre director based in Kherson. He has served as the long-standing director of the Kherson Regional Academic Music and Drama Theatre named after Mykola Kulish, and as president and founder of the international theatre festival Melpomene of Tavria.

Knyha was born in 1959 in Mykolaiv Oblast, before moving to Kherson Oblast following the completion of his secondary schooling. After graduating from the Kherson College of Culture and Education and then the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, he started working as an artistic director within Kherson Oblast, before becoming director of the main theatre in Kherson in 1989. He has overseen the complete overhaul of the theatre and its expansion into a leading cultural institution. He founded the Melpomene of Tavria in 1999 in order to promote Ukrainian theatre, and it is held every year. He has also been active in cultural and social initiatives in the region, serving in roles such as Chairman of the Eurasian Theatre Association and member of the Kherson Regional Council. During the Russian occupation of Kherson in 2022, he was abducted by occupying Russian forces before being released, and he later testified before the International Court of Justice about his detention and the conditions in the region during the occupation.

Early life and education Knyha was born on 26 March 1959 in the village of Pokrovka, which was then part of Mykolaiv Oblast in the Ukrainian SSR. After completing secondary schooling in 1976, he initially pursued a professional career after moving to Kherson Oblast, working as an installer at PMK No. 132 of the Khersonvodbud Trust. However, he decided to eventually pursue a higher education, and attended the Kherson College of Culture and Education, specializing in cultural and education work there. Decades later in 2005 he began studying in the postgraduate program at the National Academy of Government Managerial Staff of Culture and Arts to further his qualifications. In its peak, the theatre performed around 36 to 40 shows per month and released between 12 and 17 premieres annually.

He also helped bring the theatre into an international profile. The company frequently toured Paris under his direction, where they performed entirely in the Ukrainian language at places like Théâtre Watteau. The theatre also started touring Bulgaria. He has served as its president. The idea was suggested to him by Mykola Berson, who was the then director of the Mykolaiv Theatre, but only came into fruition because the Kherson Theatre was starting to gain popularity at the time. However, the theatre nearly did not continue after its first year, as Knyha had to spend an entire year paying off the debts for its organization after the first festival in 1999. Although at first the festival was limited to participants from Ukraine, in 2004 it became truly international with theatres coming from Hungary and the unrecognized state of Transnistria.

Since its founding, the primary funding for the festival has been the audience's tickets, although it has received some state and local support. They later won a grant from the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation (UCF) and 110,000 UAH from Kherson city in 2010. The festival has traditionally opened with a solemn parade through Kherson, and then events happen such as competition plays, theatrical "skits" known as kapustnnyks, gala concerts, and street events. It featured 64 performances from 34 cities under the slogan "Melpomene is the voice of the Kherson region". The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also addressed the participants and highlighted the festival as a tool of resistance. It was also the first year the festival did not award prizes or have a jury because of the unequal conditions for participants from Eastern Ukraine.

Social projects Knyha has been known for his push for social initiatives in Kherson. In January 2020, the theatre under his direction co-launched a mono-performance titled Illuzia (Illusion) in partnership with the Kherson branch of the International Anti-Drug Association.. The show featured an actor who drew from his own life experiences with drug addiction. He invited members of the public to photograph themselves wearing a mask with the message "I wear a mask - I value doctors", which was then shared on social media.

He has also served as Chairman of the Eurasian Theatre Association and as a member of the Kherson Regional Council.

Occupation and liberation of Kherson On 24 February 2022, Knyha attempted to head to the theatre to open the bomb shelters there and instruct staff on evacuations. He then attempted to return to his home in Oleshky via the Antonivka Road Bridge, but was warned that Russian forces had already reached the town and retreated to Kherson, but attempted to cross again later into Oleshky by rowboat and was successful. During the interrogation, he was given the choice to go free, as long as Russian forces were allowed to monitor the theatre's repertoire and was also offered a leadership role in the regional administration to maintain order. He rejected both demands. Later that day, the de jure Mayor of Oleshky, Yevhen Ryshchuk, went public with the news of his kidnapping, saying that he was taken to an unknown area. He was released the following day after diplomatic pressure from the Ministry of Culture, the National Union of Theatre Artists of Ukraine under Bogdan Strutynskyi, the international theatre community, and the Eurasian Theatre Association. On 6 April 2022 he decided to evacuate with his family via the route to Snihurivka, and then he traveled in stages from Odesa to Khmelnytskyi and then finally to Lviv.