Dartmouth students will present the world premiere English-language production of Vertep for Homo Sapiens, a contemporary Ukrainian play by Volodymyr Rafeyenko, on June 2 and 3 at 7 pm at the Hopkins Center for the Arts (Hop Garage 131). The performances will be preceded by a conversation with the playwright at the Literary Arts Bridge on June 1 at 1 pm.

Vertep for Homo Sapiens transforms the Ukrainian vertep — a Christmas folk theater of music, comedy, ritual, improvisation, song, dance, and communal gathering — into a wartime vision of contemporary Ukraine. Sacred story intersects with drones, bombardment, displacement, and loss, as carols and laughter exist alongside fear and destruction. Surreal, tragic, and darkly funny, the play explores how people preserve meaning, memory, and collective life under conditions of war.

The production emerges from Ukrainian Theater Workshop: Translation and Performance (EEER 71.03/THEA 10.75), taught by Victoria Somoff (Department of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Studies). Over the course of the spring term, students translated the play from Ukrainian into English and developed it for the stage under the co-direction of Peter M. Webster and Alexander Adele Campbell ’26. Lighting, sound, music, choreography, cinematography, and stage management for the production are all student-created.

The performances will be livestreamed to audiences in Ukraine as part of the project’s collaboration with the international initiative Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings.

Link to Vimeo livestream: https://vimeo.com/event/5962505