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Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts,
Sakhna Theatre in Bishkek and
Yara Arts Group from La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York present:

Kyrgyz version
Russian version




KYRGYZ EPIC THEATRE IN NEW YORK

photographs by Margaret Morton


June 5-21, 2008
Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts

196 Sovietskaya (across the street from the Opera) in Bishkek
From the permanent collection of the University of Central Asia, Bishkek Central Office


This week Bishkek will host the Kyrgyz Epic Theatre Project which will include a major photography exhibit at the National Museum of Fine Arts, and performances at the B’Art Center of the epic Kereez by Sakhna Theatre and the epic Er Toshtuk created by Virlana Tkacz, Kenzhegul Satybaldieva and Kyrgyz artists.

Kyrgyz Epic Theatre in New York, an exhibit of photographs by Margaret Morton, will open June 5 - 21, 2008 at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Bishkek. The series includes forty six large-format color photographs from the two theatre productions in New York based on Kyrgyz epics. In March 2007, La MaMa Experimental Theatre presented Janyl Myrza created by the artists of Yara Arts Group, and Sakhna Theatre of Bishkek. Later that month, Sakhna’s production of Testament (Kereez) was shown on the same stage. Margaret Morton captured these performances in her photographs.

The opening of the photography exhibit Kyrgyz Epic Theatre in New York will be on Thursday, June 5 at 16:00 at the National Museum of Fine Arts, 196 Sovietskaya (just opposite the Opera) in Bishkek. The opening events will include a short presentation on the making of Janyl Myrza with performances of songs from the epic. On Friday, June 6 at 19:00 Sakhna will present Kereez at the B’Art Center 1 Karasaeva (formerly Druuzhba) St. On Saturday June 7 at 19:00 the students of the Theatre Institute will perform Er Toshtuk. For reservations for the performances please call 53-17-85.





Janyl Myrza

Yara Arts Group and Sakhna Theatre
March 9 - 25, 2007 La MaMa Experimental Theatre



Janyl Myrza, the first Kyrgyz-American collaborative theatre, was created by Yara Arts Group, and the Sakhna Theatre of Bishkek. It is based on a 17th century Kyrgyz epic and tells the story of a woman warrior with a skill in archery so refined that she never misses. Two women simultaneously played the heroine – Kyrgyz actress Kenzhegul Satybaldieva and Korean-American actress Susan Hyon – in this production directed by Virlana Tkacz, and designed by Watoku Ueno, who incorporated projections of photographs by Margaret Morton.

The Janyl Myrza project was initiated in 2005 when Virlana Tkacz met the artists of Sakhna Theatre of Bishkek. In July 2006 Yara artists came to Kyrgyzstan where together with actors from Sakhna Theatre, they researched the story of Janyl in the landscape where the events took place and Margaret Morton created a series of photographs that were used in the theatre production. Margaret Morotn's photographs of Janyl Myrza are unique in their multi-layering. The artist captures both the work of the actors and the projections of her own photographs which form an organic part of the theatrical set design. The complex images reveal the beauty of the land, the traditions of the Kyrgyz people and inform us about the production in New York.


Testament (Kereez)

Sakhna Theatre
March 29 - April 1, 2007 La MaMa Experimental Theatre


Ms. Morton also photographed the production of Testament (or Kereez), an original theatre piece based on a Kyrgyz epic by the Sakhna Theatre of Bishkek which performed at La MaMa March - April 2007. The production, created by artistic director Nurlan Asanbekov and performed by the Sakhna actors, is about a hunter who slaughters peacefully grazing goats, despite the entreaties of Sur Echi, the mythical Mother Goat, who then takes her revenge. The universal theme of man's relationship with nature is at the heart of this production in which the Kyrgyz performers portray both the tribe and the wild herds.


Margaret Morton graduated from the Yale University School of Art and is a fulltime professor at The Cooper Union in the School of Art. Since 1989, Morton has documented the dwellings that homeless individuals create for themselves. Books from her ongoing project include Glass House, photographs and oral histories of thirty-five young squatters who set up a highly-structured community in an abandoned glass factory (Penn State Press, 2004). Reviews of Morton’s books have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, as well as such international publications as Time Out (London), The Independent (London) Die Zeit and Der Spiegel (Germany), and Asahi (Tokyo). Fragile Dwelling was produced by Voyager Company as a Web site (www.fragiledwelling.org). Morton’s photographs have been exhibited in New York City at the New Museum for Contemporary Art, The Museum of the City of New York, New York Historical Society, The Urban Center, Aperture Foundation’s Burden Gallery, Lowinsky Gallery, and Bodell Gallery, and throughout the United States, including the Wexner Center for the Arts, the Cranbrook Art Museum. Her work has also been displayed internationally in museums and galleries in Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, Korea, and Switzerland. Last summer an exhibit of photographs by Margaret Morton entitled Janyl Myrza in New York opened at the B’Art Center and traveled to Naryn and Kara Suu. In 2006 Margaret Morton was invited by Kyrgyz curator Shaarbek Amankulov to take part in international projects in Osh and Bishkek.

Yara Arts Group brings together drama, poetry, song, myth and movement to create original theatre pieces that explore timely issues rooted in the East. Since its founding in 1990, Yara has created eighteen productions based on extensive research in Eastern Europe, Siberia and Asia in the company’s signature style of: multilingual dialogue and songs supported by evocative visuals and documentation. Janyl Myrza was Yara’s first collaborative piece with Kyrgyz artists.Yara Arts Group is a resident company of La MaMa E.T.C. founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart.

Recently, Yara artists have also created Er Toshtuk with Kyrgyz artists. This magical and humous theatre piece about a journey into the underworld and out into the cosmos premiered May 23-26. Due to popular demand extra shows had to be added.

Sakhna Theater was founded by Nurlan Asanbekov in 2002 and the company’s first show Testament received critical acclaim and won the Grand Prize at Bishkek's Art-Ordo International Theatre Festival. Sakhna Theatre has been able to perform the show throughout the Kyrgyz Republic, not only in large city theatres, but also in small village cultural centers. One of the most memorable stagings was a torch lit performance on the shores of Lake Issyk Kul. Sakhna also toured Testament to festivals in Moscow, Tashkent, as well as Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Wroclaw, Poland. The second Sakhna production was Kurmanbek (2004) about a warrior who overthrows a tyrannical oppressor. The group also created Maktym Dastan, an epic a love story. Most recently, the group collaborated with the Yara Arts Group on Janyl Myrza.

For more information contact Altyn at (0555) 40-89-40


For information and photographs from Yara's previous work with Kyrgyz epics see:
Janyl Myrza Returns to her Homeland August 2007
Janyl in New York March 2007
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 Spring in New York


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