Theatre Performances

JANYL (2007)

new world music theatre piece by Yara Arts Group and the Sakhna Theatre of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Janyl at La MaMa |plus Theatre Press and Pictures from New York
Janyl Myrza Returns to Her Homeland |plus Press and Pictures from Kyrgyzstan
Janyl Myrza in New York exhibit of photographs by Margaret Morton
Janyl Myrza workshop in Bishkek |plus pictures from Yara's research trip to the Land of Janyl Myrza

SUNDOWN (2006) Theatrical reflection on the life and work of the father of Japanese photogrpahy, Hikoma Ueno (1837-1904) created by Watoku Ueno with Yara Arts Group Sundown |plus Theatre Reviews and Pictures KOLIADA: WINTER SONGS (2005) Forces of nature, animal spirits and the dead come to dinner new theatre piece by Yara Arts Group based on anceint winter rituals from the Carpathians and the very contemporary poetry of Serhiy Zhadan Koliada: Twelve Dishes | plus Theatre Reviews and Pictures Koliada workshop in Kyiv| plus "In search of the Hutsul Koliada" by Virlana Tkacz THE WARRIOR'S SISTER (2004) World Music theatre piece based on an ancient Buryat epic song Sister of a legendary warrior puts on his armour when he is killed created by Yara Arts Group and Buryat Artists at La MaMa Experimental Theatre March 5-21, 2004 The Warrior's Sister |plus Theatre Reviews and Pictures SWAN (2003) Music Theatre piece based on poetry by Oleh Lysheha Discovering the mythical in the everyday created by Yara Arts Group at La MaMa Experimental Theatre June 12-29, 2003 at Lowell Hall, Harvard University July 11, 2003 Swan |plus Theatre Reviews and Pictures Swan at Harvard |and text of Oleh Lysheha's poem "Swan" KUPALA at Ukrainian Diaspora International Theatre Festival in Kyiv, Ukraine and in the villages of Kraichkivka in Poltava Region and Svarytsevychi in the Polissia Region November, 2002 Kupala: at Festival in Kyiv and in villages HOWLING (2002) World Music Theatre piece based on Siberian wolf legends created by Yara Arts Group and artists from Buryatia at La MaMa Experimental Theatre March 15 - 31, 2002 Howling |and Theatre Reviews OBO: OUR SHAMANISM (2001) World Music Theatre piece based on shaman intiation rituals the artists witnessed in Siberia created by Yara Arts Group and artists from Buryatia at La MaMa Experimental Theatre March 15 - April 1, 2001 Obo: Our Shamanism |and Theatre Review| SONG TREE (2000) A World Music Theatre piece based on ancient winter songs and dances from the Carpathians and Poltava Spirits of Malanka and the Goat Dance descend on a woman who has buried herself in work and science. created by Yara Arts Group, artists from Ukraine and Gogol Bordello at La MaMa Experimental Theatre December 21 - 23, 2000 On the making of Song Tree see "Kryachkivka: A Village That Sings" | and "Utoropy: A Village with Salt in Its History" | On our show Song Tree with show photos CIRCLE (1999-2000) Siberian legends, shaman chants and post-Soviet reality intermingle in an outrageous look at contemporary wedding in Buryatia when Gogol Bordello, a hot gypsy punk band, arrives to make sure everything goes wrong created by Yara Arts Group, artists from the Buryat National Theatre of Siberia and Gogol Bordello at La MaMa Experimental Theatre March 24 - April 9, 2000 "Making Our Circle" by Virlana Tkacz(with photos) | Reviews of Circle | Circle in Mongolia (1998-99) created with artists from the Buryat National Theatre of Siberia, featuring traditional Buryat Mongolian music and throat singing. -- An American journalist in Siberia today finds herself in the footsteps of a 16th century Buryat Mongolian princess. Their worlds entwine as a Shaman, at the height of his trance, leaves his body and takes flight. The piece performed at La MaMa in New York, the Buryat National Theatre in Ulan-Ude and on tour in the villages of the Buryat Aginsk Region, where the folk songs and legends that inspired the piece were originally collected. "Flight: A Buryat Princess Finds Us" by Virlana Tkacz (with photos) | Virtual Souls (1996-97) created with artists from the Buryat National Theatre of Siberia. On the Internet someone opens a window into the past... Nature reveals its mythical secrets--swans transform into beautiful women. But can you copyright a dream? The piece performed at La MaMa, in Ulan-Ude and at the Experimental Theatre Festival in Kyiv. "Virtual Souls in Siberia" by Virlana Tkacz (with photos) | Reviews of Virtual Souls Waterfall/Reflections (1994-95) created with the legendary folk singer from Kyiv, Nina Matvienko. The piece explores notions of identity in our changing world by weaving together family histories, myth, ancient song and contemporary poetry by American and Ukrainian women. The piece performed at La MaMa and at the Festival of Experimental Theatres in Kyiv. Theatre Reviews and Pictures Yara's Forest Song (1993-94) the shifting boundaries between wilderness and civilization. Based on a classic of Ukrainian literature, Lesia Ukrainka's Forest Song, translated into English by Yara members, Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps. Also included in the text were the works by American, Canadian and Japanese poets, pre-Christian Ukrainian incantations and ancient songs were incorporated into an original score. In the spring of 1994 Yara traveled to Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine to further work on the piece with the Kurbas Young Theatre. The joint cast performed the piece bilingually in Lviv and then in New York at La MaMa in June. Song |plus Theatre Reviews and Pictures Blind Sight(1992-93) considered the nature of "seeing" across barriers of culture. Blind Sight was based on the life of blind writer Vasyl Yeroshenko, who traveled the world, settling in Japan 1914-21 and writing in Japanese. The piece was comprised of the autobiographical writings and short stories of Yeroshenko and of poems by 7th to 20th century Japanese and Ukrainian writers. It was performed primarily in English, with fragments in Japanese, Ukrainian and Esperanto. This multilingual version was performed at festivals in Kharkiv and Kyiv and at La MaMa. Blind |plus Theatre Reviews and Pictures Explosions (1991-92) explored society's ambivalence towards technological power. It interwove documentary material from the Chornobyl nuclear accident, alchemical texts, fragments of German expressionist drama, new American poetry, and translations into English of contemporary Ukrainian verse for which Yara members were awarded the AGNI Translation Prize from Boston University. A Light from the East (1990-91) the power of art to change the world and the forces that oppose change This piece incorporated writing from the diaries of Les Kurbas, an experimental theatre director who worked in Kyiv in the 1920s and was later destroyed by Stalin; the poetry of Pavlo Tychyna, the foremost Ukrainian writer of the 20th century; and dreams of the Yara artists. A bilingual version of this piece was produced in Ukraine with Yara members and local artists in the summer of 1991. This version opened in Kyiv during the week of the attempted coup in Moscow and played to standing-room-only audiences in Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv. A Theatre Reviews and Pictures Yara also performed Pandora/A Re-Considered Masque by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps at the Women's Project spring of 1990, Breath by Annette Kurek in a workshop at La Mama in the fall of 1991, and Time In Between by Andrew Colteaux and Virlana Tkacz shown as a work-in-progress at the Berezillia Theatre Festival in Kyiv in the spring of 1994. Most photographs this page © Watoku Ueno, except pictures from Howling, Kupala and The Warrior's Sister which are by Alexander Khantaev, and Koliada , which are by Alexander Lesin, all rights reserved. Return to contents If you would like to be included on our mailing list send us your name and full postal address or write to: Yara Arts Group 306 East 11th St., #3B New York, NY 10003 USA Phone/Fax: 212-475-6474 Email:Virlana Tkacz at yara@prodigy.net Tell us what you think of our homepage! Top of page | Arts & Culture | Yara Homepage BRAMA, Inc. Copyright (c)1995-2005 Yara Arts Group; all rights reserved. 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