In 1919, the first Jewish theater studio was founded in Kyiv under the Jewish secular charity and cultural and educational organization “Kultur Lige”. The first All-Ukrainian State Jewish Theater (GOSET is an abbreviation, the name of the theater in Russian: “Государственный еврейский театр”) was created in 1925 in Kharkiv, its creative base was also the theater studio “Kultur Lige”. In addition to the students, the already well-known and beloved actors L. Bugova, P. Mindlin, A. Nuger and others joined the theater, and director E. Loiter became the artistic director (until 1928).
In the autumn of 1928, satisfying the need of the local Jewish population for a theater in the national language, the second state Jewish theater in Ukraine was opened in Kyiv – Kyiv GOSET. The troupe consisted of actors from the “Kunst-Vikl” theater and the Jewish theater studio “Freinkust”, which moved to Kyiv from Moscow. In connection with the transfer of the capital of Ukraine to Kyiv, in 1934 there was a merger of two corps: Kharkiv and Kyiv GOSETs under the leadership of B. Vershilov. Undoubtedly, Kyiv All-Ukrainian GOSET of the second half of the 1930s was one of the best Jewish theater groups in Ukraine.
The repertoire of Jewish theaters of the late 1920s – mid-1930s corresponded to the repertoire of Soviet theaters of that time. A significant part of it consisted of productions of “historical-revolutionary” content, production performances, alongside which plays of the Jewish classical theater of dramatists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, translated works of Western European and Russian authors were staged. In the 1930s, works by Ukrainian playwrights began to be added to the repertoire of Jewish theaters of the Ukrainian SSR (production of the play “Glytai, or Spider” by M. Kropyvnytskyi at the Odesa GOSET, etc.).
The State Jewish Theater in Odesa was founded in 1934 after the merger of the Odesa State Theater-Studio, Vinnytsia and Mykolaiv Jewish Theaters. To serve the Jewish national districts of Ukraine, in 1931, the first Jewish inter-district collective farm theater was organized in Stalindorf (now Vakulovo village, Dnipropetrovsk region). In 1937, the Jewish Puppet Theater appeared in Kyiv.
On the territory of Western Ukraine in the 1920s and 1930s, the center of Jewish theatrical life was Lviv. In the premises of the Coliseum Theater (destroyed during World War II), the City Theater “News” operated, where a number of Jewish theater companies and its own permanent Jewish troupe regularly performed. In 1939, the Jewish-Polish director and actress I. Kaminska, who headed the First State Jewish Drama Theater in Lviv from 1939 to 1941, moved to Lviv. With the beginning of the German-Soviet war, I. Kaminska left for Kharkiv, later evacuated to Baku (Azerbaijan), and later to Frunze (now Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan), where she led a Polish-Jewish theater troupe.
The mass repressions of the second half of the 1930s in the USSR did not escape prominent cultural figures, and Jewish theaters of Ukraine began to be closed. In Kyiv, the Jewish Puppet Theater was closed first, and soon the Theater of the Young Spectator. In 1940, the Soviet leadership decided that it was “impractical to keep” the Jewish Department at the Kyiv Theater Institute.
During the German-Soviet war, all Jewish theaters of the Ukrainian SSR were evacuated to the city of Dzhambul (Kazakhstan) and merged into the All-Ukrainian GOSET. Later, he was transferred to the city of Kokand, and later to the city of Fergana (both in Uzbekistan).
In 1944, the All-Ukrainian GOSET returned to Ukraine. Due to the fact that both premises of the theater in Kyiv were destroyed, it was temporarily transferred to the city of Chernivtsi, where it remained until its closure. In honor of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the First All-Ukrainian State Jewish Theater (Kharkiv, 1925), the only theater in post-war Ukraine, GOSET, was invited to the capital with the best performances. Also, on this occasion, he was given the name of the outstanding Jewish writer Sholom Aleichem. S. Mikhoels, artistic director of Moscow GOSET, head of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee of the Soviet Union, spoke at the celebratory anniversary evening among other guests of honor. In general, in 1945–1948, the theater made several tours to Kyiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv, and one tour to the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, Chisinau, and Lviv. In 1948–1950, the activities of the All-Ukrainian GOSET gradually collapsed in parallel with the unfolding of the anti-Semitic campaign. The last performance of the All-Ukrainian State Jewish Theater was the operetta “Free Wind” by I. Dunaevsky, which premiered in January 1950, and the theater was closed the following month.
In 1945, an attempt was made to restore the Odesa GOSET as a mobile theater under the leadership of E. Loyter. The theater operated until the 1948–1949 season, the last performances were given during a tour in 1949 in Kryvyi Rih.
As a result of the state anti-Semitic campaign, repressions against cultural figures, all Jewish theaters of the USSR were liquidated in 1949–1950. The only Jewish group that worked in Ukraine until the end of the 1970s was the Sidi Tal concert ensemble.
The revival of the Jewish theater in Ukraine began only at the end of the 1980s.