Vesta Gunchenko

Vesta Andriivna Hunchenko, known professionally as Vesta Gunchenko, is a Ukrainian stand-up comedian and playwright born on 7 February 1987. She earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy and political science from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in 2007 and a master's degree in philosophy from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in 2009. From 2008 she worked as a creative copywriter and later creative director, contributing to advertising campaigns for brands including Nescafe, McDonald's, Jameson, Nissan, Nestle, Morshynska, Carlsberg, and Amnesty International. She joined the Kyiv Academic Puppet Theatre in December 2021 and became head of its literary and dramaturgy department in January 2023. Active as a playwright since 2020, she has written stage works including Borshchi and Headliner, or Circus on a Wire, staged for adult audiences at the puppet theatre in 2022, along with an adaptation of Ivan Kotliarevsky's Aeneid. In 2023 she undertook a solo stand-up tour of Kyiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Lviv, and Dnipro, and premiered her special Mavpa z Hranatoiu (Monkey with a Grenade) at the Kyiv Academic Puppet Theatre on 29 June 2023. Known for tackling social issues and sharing candid personal observations from the stage, she has continued performing sold-out solo shows in Kyiv, establishing herself as one of the leading women in Ukraine's contemporary stand-up comedy scene.