Recovery from war involves both people and places. The Resilient Theatre: Participatory Cultural Theatre Rooted in Local Materials for and with Ukrainian Veterans project explores how these two processes can be connected through participatory building, ecological construction, and culture.

Taking place at the National Rehabilitation Centre UNBROKEN in Lviv, Ukraine, the project brought Ukrainian veterans and internally displaced people involved in theatre practice as part of their recovery, alongside architects, researchers, cultural workers and the members of the wider community. Together, they built and activated an open-air theatre on the grounds of the Zamarstynivskyi park near the rehabilitation centre.

Rather than treating construction as a process that ends before a space is occupied, the project invited its prospective users to engage with the site while it was still being built. Construction, theatre, and collective use therefore developed alongside one another. Rehearsals took place on site as the structure was emerging, allowing participants to become familiar with and shape the space before its completion. During a toloka, a traditional Ukrainian form of collective work, participants also contributed directly to the theatre by painting the façade with their own motifs.

The process culminated in a performance that formally opened the space. The play, written by Andrii Hryhoriev. and directed by Svitlana Fedieshova, had been rehearsed alongside the construction process and was performed in the newly completed theatre. In this way, the first use of the space was not separate from its creation, but formed part of the same collective process of making, rehearsing, and gathering.

The project is developed as a pilot for a more participatory, ecological and socially grounded approach to recovery and reconstruction. Onsite building and community events happened between 25 August and 13 September 2026.

The work continues beyond the construction itself. A documentary film and publication will reflect on the process and explore why involving people directly in the making of places may matter for reconstruction efforts.

The project runs from 3 August 2026 to 31 May 2027 and is funded by the European Cultural Foundation. It is coordinated by BUDMO in Ukraine, with InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM and the Charitable Organization “Charitable Foundation ‘Medical Innovations’” as partners. The project leader is Špela Vrtovec, InnoRenew CoE, UP IAM researcher.

The Resilient Theatre aims to contribute to a more participatory and socially grounded approach to recovery and reconstruction by demonstrating how cultural activities, collective building, and locally sourced bio-based materials can come together in the creation of shared spaces. Through this pilot, the project explores how the process of making a place together, and working across disciplines such as architecture, theatre, and social sciences, can support community connection, expression, agency and belonging, while also offering insights into more ecological approaches to reconstruction.

Authors: Lara Prah and Špela Vrtovec