Translating, Publishing and Producing Ukrainian Drama

Sam Buggeln

Theater Director, Translator

Samuel Buggeln is a theater director, translator, and the Artistic Director of the Cherry Arts, a multi-arts company in Ithaca, NY.  At the Cherry he has produced—and frequently directed and/or translated—English-language premières of over a dozen contemporary theater works from countries including Argentina, Belgium, El Salvador, France, Germany, Mexico, Québec, Romania, and Serbia.  His theater translations have been published by Oberon, Seagull, and the Mercurian, and been produced in NYC and California as well as Ithaca.  His co-translated and -edited Nothing to do with Love and other plays received the 2022 Theater Translation Prize Honorable Mention from the American Society for Theater Research.  He is the Chair of the English-language committee of the theater translation network Eurodram.

John Freedman

American Translator, Playwright and Theater Historian

John Freedman is an American translator, playwright and theater historian.  Many of his 150 translations have been performed on five continents.  He has written or edited 12 books, the most recent of which is A Dictionary of Emotions in a Time of War: 20 Short Works by Ukrainian Playwrights (Laertes Press).  He is the founder and curator of two ongoing international play reading programs: “Insulted. Belarus.  The Worldwide Play Reading Project” and “The Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings.”

Anna Halas

Theatre Translator, Playwright, Researcher

Anna Halas is a Ukrainian theatre translator, playwright, and researcher. She earned her degree in Translation from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and furthered her studies at the Faculty of English Language and Literature at Oxford University, where she received the Chevening scholarship.  Continuing her education, Anna completed a postgraduate program at Lviv University, dedicating her research to the field of theatre translation.  She has a wealth of experience as a theatre translator, with several of her translated works earning international awards. In 2020, she entered the field of playwriting, and her debut play, “The Dreamcatcher”, was recognized as a finalist at the Drama Lab organized by the National Union of Theatre Workers and was showcased at the Festival of Modern Drama.  Subsequent works have consistently appeared on the long and short lists of various drama festivals, both in Ukraine and abroad.  One of her notable accomplishments includes the staging of her wartime testimonial drama, “The Chronicles”, in Ukraine, which garnered international acclaim and was presented in countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Canada, and the UK. Currently, Anna’s scholarly focus is centered on Ukrainian wartime drama and its translation.