Actors from a heavily bombed city in southern Ukraine have returned to the stage, staging their first performance since the Russian invasion in an underground storage facility converted into a small theater, Reuters reports.

Several dozen spectators went down the steep concrete stairs to the underground location for the premiere of the Mykolaiv Drama Theater, News.ro reports.

Their usual venue, an ornate 450-seat hall, was closed due to the six-month war in which Mykolaiv, a strategic southern port, was repeatedly targeted by Russian forces.

“Of course, many performances were canceled because some of the actors went to fight, some went abroad as temporary refugees. That’s why our theater has become smaller,” actress Violeta Mamykina said.

Theater manager Artem Svystun called the performance “art therapy”, offering the local residents who remained in the city to rest from the stress caused by the war.