Les Kurbas
Ukrainian and Soviet actor, theatre director, film director (1887—1937)
Oleksandr-Zenon Stepanovych Kurbas (Ukrainian: Олександр-Зенон Степанович Курбас; 25 February 1887 – 3 November 1937) was a Ukrainian movie and theater director. He is considered by many to be the most important Ukrainian theater director of the 20th century. He formed, together with Vsevolod Meyerhold, Yevgeny Vakhtangov and several other directors, the Soviet theater avant-garde in the 1920s and 1930s. He is one of the most prominent representatives of Ukrainian avant-garde art. He is considered to be one of the lead figures of the Executed Renaissance. He was murdered by the Soviet regime, during Stalin's Great Terror.
Early work
Kurbas was born in Sambir (then part of Austria-Hungary) on 25 February 1887, and was given a double name Oleksandr-Zenon, for short Les or Oles. His father, Stepan Pylypovych Kurbas (Yanovych) (1862–1908), was a Ruthenian actor who descended from Lithuanian lineage. His mother, Vanda Adolfivna (nata Kulczycka), born in Staryi Skalat, was also an actress, the daughter of an Austrian, Adolf Teichman. His parents' last name Yanovych was their pseudonym, for which they were better known, particularly in theater of "Ruska besida".
“Les Kurbas” enters the record as ukrainian and Soviet actor, theatre director, film director (1887—1937). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Kurbas, Ukrainian and Soviet can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1406209. VIAF identifies the subject as 30337440. The Library of Congress control number is n87881724. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1887, 1937, 1862 and 1908.
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This entry incorporates text from “Les Kurbas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.