Olga Danylyuk examines how wartime narratives and national myths influence Ukrainian society, focusing on tensions between national unity and critical reflection under the pressures of war propaganda.

Kasia Lech talks with Sofiia Onishchenko, Daria Bogdan and Vasylyna Martseniuk about their practice of theatre and acting as “cultural resistance” and creating Ukrainian theatre in Poland during war.

Theatremaker Andrew Kushnir’s article “Why is Canadian Theatre So Russian Right Now?” went viral. He and Dr. Kathleen Gallagher discuss how theatre in wartime takes on the distances between us.

Josephine Burton and Anastasiia Kosodii discuss the writing of The Reckoning, exploring testimony, ethics, and theatrical responses to the war in Ukraine.

Playwright Vitaliy Chenskiy on wartime Ukrainian playwriting: why it narrowed and lost political force, and questions that might help reopen the creative field.

Olga Danyluk introduces this Special Issue on Theatre’s Response to the War in Ukraine.

Daly and Monks introduce this issue on Boucicault’s The Octoroon by reflecting on the theme of debt.

Jolly Abraham reflects on playing the Assistant and Paul in the 2022 Abbey Theatre production of An Octoroon.

Georgia Lowe reflects on designing An Octoroon for the Orange Tree Theatre and the National Theatre in London in 2017.

Short essays by Eltis, McNulty and Schweitzer on the sensations provoked by Boucicault’s melodrama, and Jacobs-Jenkins’ investigation of their legacies and politics.

Short essays by Riordan, Chen and Lonergan investigating the endings and afterlives of The/An Octoroon.

Dorney, Hofer-Robinson, Hull, Murphy, Novak and Williams consider the significance of makeup, photography and tableaux in the plays’ representation of race.

Borelli, West-Agboola and Adebayo exchange letters reflecting on the potency of these plays for how we might live now.