# Ukrainian Musical "The Hunters and the Hunted" Staged at Harvard April 23, 2025 Kyrylo Beskorovainyi - [ News ](/news-categories/news) ![Hunters and the Hunted event photo](/sites/g/files/omnuum4931/files/styles/hwp_1_1__960x960_scale/public/2025-04/Author%20of%20the%20photo%20Mai%20Yer%20Vang.jpg?itok=N0PJSceT) On April 16, 2025, *The Hunters and the Hunted: The Musical* had its international premiere in the format of a staged reading. The musical is based on the novel *The Hunters and the Hunted* (*Tyhrolovy*) by Ivan Bahrianyi, a Ukrainian writer and dissident. It was created by Kyrylo Beskorovainyi (Nieman Fellow at Harvard ‘25), Anton Humaniuk, and Bohdan Reshetilov. Directed by an award-winning playwright and director, Lisa Rafferty, and performed by American actors, the staged reading was held at Lippmann House at Harvard University. While the full musical includes 28 songs, the Harvard reading featured 11 of them, along with fragments of dialogues. The libretto and songs were translated into English by Anna Halas, Kyrylo Beskorovainyi, and Anton Humaniuk. Ukrainian pianist Ruslan Ramazanov provided live music accompaniment. The promo poster was created by Zhenya Oliinyk. The event was organized in partnership with the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and *Kunsht*, with financial support from the House of Europe. --- ![The cast of Hunters and the Hunted](/sites/g/files/omnuum4931/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2025-04/Author%20of%20the%20photo%20Kyrylo%20Beskorovainyi.JPG?itok=1O8vt5Wy) **The Cast:** Dominic DaSilva as Gregory Mnohohrishnyi. Timothy Lawton as Major Medvin. Olivia Valianti as Natalka. Jessica Gates as Fiona, Prisoner 2. Austin Martin as Prisoner 1, the young man, Arseniev, NKVD officer, Sirko. Kyrylo Beskorovainyi as the Narrator, the second man, Graham. --- ![Hunters and the Hunted event photo](/sites/g/files/omnuum4931/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/2025-04/Author%20Does%20not%20need%20attribution.jpeg?itok=-PubXJms) Set against the chilling backdrop of Stalinist repression, *The Hunters and the Hunted* follows the journey of Gregory Mnohohrishnyi—a young Ukrainian political prisoner who dares to escape a death-bound Soviet train headed deep into Siberia’s labor camp. His escape gets him into the untamed vastness of the Far East, where nature is both unforgiving and liberating. On the run from the ruthless NKVD, Gregory finds unexpected refuge with the Sirko family—independent, fiercely free tiger hunters who live far from the reach of Soviet control. As Gregory heals, he falls in love with Natalka, Sirko’s daughter. But danger looms: Major Medvin, a relentless NKVD officer, has made it his mission to track Gregory down and extinguish this spark of defiance. The production was initially set to premiere at the Kyiv National Academic Operetta’s Theatre in 2022, with the first rehearsal reading scheduled for late February. However, the brutal and unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia forced the cancellation of those plans. Despite the disruption, the theatre team resumed work in 2023, and on June 2, the musical officially premiered at the Operetta’s Theatre. Since then, the musical has been part of the theatre’s repertoire and won a prestigious Ukrainian award—the Kyiv Pektoral. In 2024, *The Hunters and the Hunted: The Musical* won the Best Musical Performance in the Opera/Operetta/Musical category at the 6th Ukrainian Theatre Festival and Award “GRA.” The team is now preparing an online presentation for theater directors from across the European Union and the United Kingdom, scheduled for May 2025. > The musical we presented at Harvard is based on a novel by Ivan Bahrianyi, a Ukrainian writer who himself survived the Soviet camps. His work offers a painful yet essential testimony to the era of repression. In one of his texts, Bahrianyi wrote that while Henry Ford was building assembly lines for the construction of cars in the United States, the Soviet authorities were constructing assembly lines for the destruction of human souls. Sadly, those words still ring true today. > > The musical premiered in Kyiv in 2023, and we’re honored to now bring it to an international audience at Harvard’s Lippmann House—the home of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism and a space that champions truth and freedom of speech. This project matters not only as a work of art, but also as an effort to tell the world the truth about Ukraine’s past, still obscured by decades of Russian and Soviet disinformation. > > Today, with the full-scale war ongoing in Ukraine, stories about our history are becoming a form of resistance. They provide context and reveal the depth of our trauma. We believe that art can spark empathy, inspire action, and dismantle prejudice. —Kyrylo Beskorovainyi, co-author and co-composer of *The Hunters and the Hunted: The Musical* > The adaptation and international presentation of The Hunters and the Hunted: The Musical, supported by House of Europe’s Individual Project Grants, is a perfect example of what this program is all about: fostering creative and professional exchange between Ukrainians and their peers across the EU and the UK. It’s also a compelling artistic initiative that reimagines Ivan Bahrianyi’s novel—a book beloved by many Ukrainians. We wish the team every success and look forward to hearing feedback from both the professional community and general audiences. —Tetiana Manziuk, grants and stipends manager at House of Europe > *An urgent, flawlessly organized event. While American readers might find Ukrainian books in translation in bookstores or libraries (though not as many as we’d like), the situation with theatrical productions of Ukrainian works is much bleaker. For Harvard—a place where dozens if not hundreds of events happen daily—to draw such an engaged audience for a musical based on a novel by a Ukrainian author from the early 20th century and centered on a complex historical topic, is a remarkable achievement. I want to applaud translator Anna Halas and co-translators Anton Humaniuk and Kyrylo Beskorovainyi for their skillful work. As a translator myself, I can well imagine how much time and effort went into translating the lyrics, syncing them with the music, and fine-tuning these translations during rehearsals with local actors.* —Hanna Leliv, translator, HURI’s events coordinator Original text: Kyrylo Beskorovainyi (Nieman Fellow at Harvard ’25) English translation: Hanna Leliv Photo credits: Kyrylo Beskorovainyi, Olesya Beskorovaina, Mai Yer Vang Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)