Olimpia Dobrovolska

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Olimpia Dobrovolska - Wikipedia

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Olimpia Dobrovolska
Олімпія Добровольська

Born	(1895-07-31)July 31, 1895 Odesa, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
Died	February 2, 1990(1990-02-02) (aged 94) New York, United States
Occupation(s)	actress, theater director

Olimpia Ostapivna Dobrovolska^[a] (July 31 (August 12) 1895 – February 2, 1990) was a Ukrainian theater actress, play director, theater teacher and theorist of Ukrainian art of the 20th century. She was a wife of an actor Yosyp Hirniak.

Early life and education

Olimpia Dobrovolska was born on 31 July (12 August) 1895 in Odesa.^[1] In 1915, she graduated from Lysenko Drama Institute in Kyiv.^[2]

Career

In 1916, 20-year-old Dobrovolska was associated with the Kurbas group and was one of the founders of the Kyiv Academic Young Theatre (Molodyi Teatr) and played there until 1919.^[3] Since the foundation of Franko Theater in January 1920 until 1922, Dobrovolska worked there.^[4] In Franko Theater, she met an actor Yosyp Hirniak and married him.^[5]

In 1922, Dobrovolska and her husband were among the first employees of the Berezil Theatre of Les Kurbas in Kyiv.^[2] In 1926, she moved to Kharkiv together with the Berezil theater.^[1]

In December 1933, Dobrovolska’s husband Hirniak was arrested by the Stalinists, and in 1934 he was exiled to the camps in Karelia on charges of participating in a “national terrorist organization”.^[6] Dobrovolska remained in Kharkiv, and since 1935, she joined the troupe of the Shevchenko Ukrainian Drama Theater in Kharkiv.^[7]

In 1937, Dobrovolska was arrested and exiled to Chibyu, Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, along with her husband.^[2] There she worked in the Kosolapkin theater.^[3]

In 1940, Dobrovolska and her husband received permission to return to Ukraine and moved to Cherkasy where Dobrovlska worked in Cherkasy Drama Theater.^[7] In 1942, Dobrovolska and her husband moved to Lviv and lived there during Nazi occupation.^[8] During this time, she played on the stage of the Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet.^[1] In 1944, Dobrovolska was forced to emigrate to Austria, then to Germany.^[8]

Along with her husband, Dobrovolska directed the Theater studio in Austria and Germany.^[7] In 1947, their Theater studio came on tour to the American zone of Germany and since then operated in West Germany until 1949.^[6]

Emigration to United States

In 1949, Dobrovolska and her husband emigrated to the United States.^[7] In 1949-50 season, they staged six plays in New York.^[6] In 1953-1955, Dobrovolska directed Ukrainian theater in the United States.^[7]

From 1956 to 1964, she headed the Theater of the Ukrainian Word in New York and her own school of artistic reading.^[5] As a director, Dobrovolska made productions Forest Song and Orgy by Lesya Ukrainka and Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen.^[1]

Olimpia Dobrovolska died on 2 February 1990 at a nursing home in New York at the age of 94.^[3]

Honors

In 1985, a book Undefeated Berezil Actors by Valerian Revytsky dedicated to Dobrovolska and Hirniak was published in New York.^[9]

Notes

^ Ukrainian: Олімпія Остапівна Добровольська, romanized: Olimpiia Ostapivna Dobrovolska

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Dobrovolska, Olimpiia". www.encyclopediaofukraine.com. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
^ ^a ^b ^c "За лаштунками театру" (PDF). Our Life: 9–10. December 1965.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Olimpia Dobrovolska, famed actress". The Ukrainian Weekly. February 25, 1990. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
^ "Йосип Гірняк – безсмертна мистецька душа". archive-ktm.ukma.edu.ua. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
^ ^a ^b "Що таке ДОБРОВОЛЬСЬКА ОЛІМПІЯ - УСЕ (Універсальний словник-енциклопедія) - Словники - Словопедія". slovopedia.org.ua. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Про Йосипа Гірняка. З нотатників, спогадів, листів". Наше Життя. February 1989. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Добровольська Олімпія Остапівна — Енциклопедія Сучасної України". esu.com.ua. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
^ ^a ^b Hnatiuk, Ola (2020-01-28). Courage and Fear. Academic Studies Press. p. 342. ISBN 978-1-64469-253-0.
^ Revytsky, Valerian (1985). Undefeated Berezil Actors (PDF). New York: Ukrainian Writer's Association in Exile "Slovo".

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