photo by Margaret Morton JANYL World Music-Theater piece based on an ancient epic about the struggles of a woman warrior in a traditional society Adaptation features movement, music and traditional epic singing March 9-25, 2007 presented by La MaMa E.T.C. and Yara Arts Group La MaMa E.T.C. (First Floor Theater), 74A East Fourth Street March 9-11 Fri-Sat 8PM + Sun at 3PM and 8PM March 15-18 & 22-25 Thurs-Sat 9PM + Sun at 3PM and 8PM La MaMa ETC 74 A East 4th St New York for tickets call (212) 475-7710 or www.lamama.org NEW YORK, February 14 – Janyl the newest work by Yara Arts Group, is based on an ancient epic song from Kyrgyzstan, "Janyl Myrza" (pronounced Ja-nil Mir-zha), about a woman archer with a skill so refined that she never misses. This World Music-Theater piece includes fragments of the epic performed live by Kyrgyz artists from Central Asia in the traditional singing style, while Yara artists perform in English. Virlana Tkacz directs. The production follows the Yara Arts Group style of dramatizing ancient myths with movement, world music, and songs sung in many languages. This time the show is based entirely on a single poetic text. "Janyl Myrza" can be loosely translated as "Sir Jane." Passed down orally through the centuries, it was recorded from the great epic singer Ibraim Abdyrakhmanov and portrays actual events that took place in the 17th century. It has been translated for the first time into English by Kyrgyz poet Roza Mukasheva, Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps especially for this show. The cast includes seven performers from Kyrgyzstan, and New York members of Yara Arts Group. Janyl is being created in rehearsals by director Virlana Tkacz and Kyrgyz artists from Sakhna Theatre of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, a company that specializes in staging Kyrgyz epics. The music is traditional and composed by Asylbek Nasirdinov, who was part of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project at Carnegie Hall, and features the bard Omurzak Kaiypov. Set, lights and costumes are by Watoku Ueno, Yara's resident designer and founding member, who is an NEA/TCG award-winning designer. Movement is by Shigeko Sara Suga. Projections are by photographer Margaret Morton who traveled with Yara last summer into the high pasturelands of the Celestial Mountains on the Kyrgyz-Chinese border where the epic originally took place. Video is by Andrea Odezynska. The woman warrior will played by Kenzhegul Satybaldieva as well as Yara artist Susan Hyon, revealing dual aspects of this powerful character. Cast also includes Kyrgyz actors Munarbek Alibaev, Baktytkul Dzhanybekov, Asel Maamytova and Ilgis Zhunusov. Director Virlana Tkacz heads the Yara Arts Group and has created sixteen original theater pieces with the company, all of which had their American premieres at La MaMa. The Village Voice (Eva Yaa Asantewaa) called her production of Circle, "a stunningly beautiful work (that) rushes at your senses, makes your heart pound, and shakes your feelings loose." Describing her last piece, The Warrior's Sister, American Theatre Web (Laura Shea) wrote, "Multilingual, though easily accessible to English-speaking audiences, the performance reminds us of what theater should be and rarely is--the opportunity to step to a world that is virtually unknown to us." Founded in 1990, Yara Arts Group, a resident company of La MaMa, creates original pieces that explore timely issues rooted in the East through the diverse cultural perspectives of the group's members. Yara artists are of Asian, African, Eastern and Western European ethnic origin. They bring together poetry, song, historical materials and scientific texts, primarily from the East, to form what one critic described as "extended meditation on an idea." The company has created seven pieces based on materials from Eastern Europe including Waterfall/Reflections, developed with folk singer Nina Matvienko, which The New York Times (D.J.R. Bruckner) called "a theatrical enchantment given cohesion by choreographed movement and by music on a prodigal scale." Since 1996 Yara has also created seven theater pieces with Buryat artists from Siberia. Janyl is the first collaborative Kyrgyz American project. Sakhna Theatre was founded under the direction of Nurlan Asanbekov in 2002. The artists work and experiment with traditional material, creating contemporary experimental versions of the great Kyrgyz epics. They study the oral folk traditions of their nomadic culture in order to help them revive these epics through ritual theatre. The universal theme of man's relationship with nature is at the heart of their productions. The epic stories are accompanied by traditional songs and instruments, further preserving this 1,000 year old culture. To date they have created three productions: Kerez (The Testament) which won the main prize in Bishkek's "Art-Ordo" International Theatre Festival, Kurmanbek and Maktym-Dastan, which were created with support from the Swiss Agency for Development. ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION The Kyrgyz artists of Sakhna will also perform Kerez (The Testament) their own production of a Kyrgyz epic, March 29 to April 1 at 8:00 pm in La MaMa's First Floor Theater, 74A East Fourth Street. The production, created by artistic director of Sakhna Nurlan Asanbekov and performed by a company of eight, is about a hunter who slaughters all the peacefully grazing goats, despite the entreaties of Sur Echi, the mythical Mother Goat, who then takes her revenge. The Kyrgyz performers ritually portray both the tribe and the wild herds around them. Tickets are $15; box office is (212) 475-7710; online ticketing is available at www.lamama.org. Janyl was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Nordlys Foundation, Alliance for Resident Theatre of New York, Yara's individual contributors and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs. Research for the production was supported by grants from CEC ArtsLink, US Embassy in Bishkek, Swiss Agency for Development, and the Soros Foundation of Kyrgyzstan. # # # Critics are invited on or after 3/10. For pictures from Yara's research into the Celestial Mountains July 2006 For pictures and information on Yara's workshop of Janyl Myrza in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan August, 2006 For information on related Kyrgyz musical events