photos: Evgeniy Maloletka The Night Is Just Beginning The Ukrainian Museum and Yara Arts Group present Mariana Sadovska singing folk songs from the Donetsk region of Ukraine and her own composition to poems by Serhiy Zhadan and Lyuba Yakimchuk. Directed by Virlana Tkacz Projections by Waldemart Klyuzko WHERE AND WHEN: December 16 & 17, 2016 Friday and Saturday 7:30 PM The Ukrainian Museum 222 East 6th St, New York, NY Runs 55 min. Limited seating! online tickets This fall Mariana Sadovska traveled with Yara artists to the villages of Donetsk Region near Volnovakha, where they recorded Ukrainian folk songs, witnessed the ritual of the dressing of the bride and the making of a korovay wedding cake. The vitality of the ancient songs they recorded stood in harsh contrast to the reality of the War that the villagers experience. This juxtaposition is presented in The Night Is Just Beginning through the songs Mariana composed based on the poetry of Serhiy Zhadan and Lyuba Yakimchuk. Since the early 1990s Mariana Sadovska has traveled to the villages of Ukraine collecting ancient ritual songs. She sings archaic midsummer night invocations, wedding songs and emigrant chants and also creates her own compositions that blend traditional music with unique innovative approaches. The New York Times wrote: “Her voice holds the clarity and bite of Slavic folk styles; her stage presence has the bright-eyed intensity of Björk.” Born in Lviv, Ukraine, Mariana Sadovska trained as a classical pianist at Lviv’s National Music Academy and joined the Les’ Kurbas Theatre, one of Ukraine’s leading theater companies. She worked with Yara Arts Group on In the Light (1991), Song Tree (2000) and Kupala (2002), as well as numerous Yara festivals and Kupala events in the Gardens of New York. Both writers are from Luhansk Region today the scene of the crisis in Ukraine. Serhiy Zhadan is the most popular writer in Ukraine today. His work speaks to the disillusionment, difficulties and ironies of life. His readings fill large auditoriums and he fronts the Kharkiv rock group -- the Dogs. Zhadan was born in Starobilsk, and lives in Kharkiv. He often travels to the frontlines and performs throughout eastern Ukraine. He has worked with Yara Arts Group since 2002, and appears in Yara new show 1917-2017: Tychyna, Zhadan and the Dogs. Lyuba Yakimchuk is a poet, screenwriter and journalist. She is the author of the poetry collections Apricots of Donbas (2015) and Like FASHION (2009) and also works with musicians. She lives in Kyiv, but was born in Pervomaysk in the Luhansk region. The Night Is Just Beginning is directed by Virlana Tkacz, the artistic director of Yara Arts Group, a resident company at La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York. Since 1990 she has created over 30 original theatre pieces which draw on the traditions and cultures of the East –Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Buryat Republic in Siberia and Japan. The issues Yara’s show raise are relevant today and help us re-view our own lives and relationship to the past. Together with Wanda Phipps, Virlana has been translating the poetry of Serhiy Zhadan and received awards for this from the NEA and NYSCA. Projections are by Waldemart Klyuzko, who was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for Yara’s Raven. He traveled Yara’s research expedition with war photographer Evgeniy Maloletka to Volnovakha this fall. Julian Kytasty will be joining Mariana Sadovska on stage, singing and performing on the bandura, a traditional Ukrainian instrument. Yara’s The Night Is Just Beginning was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the numerous friends of Yara Arts Group. Tickets for these concerts will sell out fast. If you don't purchase online in time, call 212-228-0110 the day of the event to ask about ticket availability. Yara Home