Traumaturgy - (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

These texts proceed from the front lines of extremity in Ukraine -- from The Theater of Veterans, newly consecrated. They speak with veracity and intimacy. They testify to trauma. In keenly human terms, in thirteen different voices, the throes of the war in Ukraine are confided.

Review Quotes

In Kyiv, a theater company, Theater of Veterans, led by and for veterans, is transforming personal trauma into live performance, shifting war stories from the trenches to black-box theaters.

--Lucile Brizard ""War Veterans in Ukraine Bring Their Stories to the National Stage" United24 Media, Ukraine" (2/18/2026 12:00:00 AM)

Since Alina Sarnatska's first play premiered a year ago, she has documented wartime Ukraine with unflinching frankness . . . Eighteen months ago, Alina Sarnatska was serving as a combat medic on Ukraine's frontline - including in the hellish battle for Bakhmut - and had barely been to the theatre. Six months later, she was preparing to watch the premiere of her first play in Kyiv. Now Sarnatska, 38, has several dramas under her belt and is emerging as one of Ukraine's most powerful voices in the theatre.

--Charlotte Higgins ""'I need to do everything now' the Ukrainian combat medic-turned playwright," The Guardian, UK" (10/16/2025 12:00:00 AM)

There is an opinion that any reality and the historical transformations it causes should be viewed from the distance of time. But today, time is so compressed, human thoughts and emotions work at such an accelerated pace that there is no time to wait for comprehension. Playwrights strive to express themselves immediately . . . Like the heroes of their plays, the authors know the value of time when death lurks nearby.

--Alla Pidluzhina ""Drama Panorama 2024 -- The Tragedy of War as an Existential Conflict," Chytomo, Ukraine" (2/20/2026 12:00:00 AM)