Maksym Kurochkin, a playwright and screenwriter, is one of the most respected writers in Ukraine. Born in Kyiv, he studied history and archeology at Shevchenko National University. In the late 1990s, he graduated from the Gorky Institute of Literature in Moscow and split his time between Kyiv and Moscow for the next 18 years. His early iconic productions include Kitchen (Moscow, 2000), Stalova Volya (Kyiv, 2001), Repress and Excite (Moscow, 2008), The Schooling of Bento Bonchev (Moscow, 2010; Austin, Texas, 2012), Dulcey and Roxy at City Hall (Austin, Texas, 2014), Vodka, Fucking, and Television (Moscow, 2006; Austin, Texas, 2012; Kyiv, 2017), Titus the Immaculate (Moscow, 2016), and Be Silent, Oedipus (Moscow, 2016). He returned to live and work permanently in his native city of Kyiv in 2017. Some of his major works during this period were Russiaphobia, Kherson, Asexuals, Laurels, and Tolik the Milkman. His plays have been performed around the world.

Natalka Vorozhbyt is a Ukrainian playwright and a leader in the resurgence of Ukrainian national drama in the 21st century. Vorozhbyt took part in the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv in 2013-2014, and the theme of the ensuing war with Russia has colored her work ever since. She wrote the screenplay for Cyborgs, a 2017 film about the bloody defense of an airport in Donetsk against Russian separatists. Bad Roads (2017) was staged at the Royal Court Theatre in London, and, as a film directed by the author, was Ukraine's official Oscar selection in 2022. Although she wrote in Russian early in her career, Vorozhbyt now writes in Ukrainian.