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graphic: Volodymyr Klyuzko

Capt. John Smith Goes to Ukraine

an experimental theatre piece about an iconic figure in American history
and his unexpected journey to Ukraine

by Yara Arts Group

created and performed by Bob Holman, Susan Hwang and Julian Kytasty
conceived and directed by Virlana Tkacz
video, phootgrpahs & graphics: Mikhail Shraga & Volodymyr Klyuzko
with translations by Kateryna Babkina
costumes: Keiko Obremski
lights: Yevhen Kopiov
assistant director: Nadia Sokolenko

WHERE AND WHEN:
Sept 10-11 at 18:00 Lviv Book Fair, Dzyga, Virmenska 35 ookforum.ua -- (032) 297-5612
Sept 19 at 21:30 GogolFest, Kyiv, Vydubychi gogolfest.org.ua
Sept 25-29 at 19:00 Kyiv’s Kurbas National Theatre Center, Volodymyrska 23-V -- (044) 279-5069

Yara Arts Group from La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York presents "Captain John Smith Goes to Ukraine," an original theatre piece featuring Bob Holman, poet & founder of the Bowery Poetry Club, Susan Hwang, New York performance artist & musician, and Julian Kytasty legendary bandurist. "Captain John Smith Goes to Ukraine" is based on Smith’s own writing about his adventures fighting in the Turkish wars in Eastern Europe before he came to America. The production focuses on these hardly known adventures and his journey through Ukraine in 1603. The music includes traditional Ukrainian epic songs known as “dumas” and wild new songs written by Susan Hwang which she performs accompanying herself on the accordion. Presented in Ukrainian and English, "Captain John Smith Goes to Ukraine,"” echoes Smith’s travels across many boundaries.

Most people have an idea of who Capt. John Smith was, but not many people know that prior to his adventures in Virginia he traveled east. So, instead of relating Smith’s story as it has been told so far – his leadership in Jamestown, his relationship with Pocahontas – this production focuses on the “other” history – the forgotten stories of Smith’s adventures in East Europe and Turkey. Smith’s own writing (his “self-writing book” is one of the first autobiographies published in English) is juxtaposed with the “dumas” from this same era. Both tell surprisingly similar stories of enslavement and escape across the Black Sea.

Virlana Tkacz, Yara’s artistic director, created the piece with composer Julian Kytasty, poet/performer Bob Holman of the Bowery Poetry Project and Susan Hwang, a performance artists and musician who appeared in Yara’s “Scythian Stones.” An important element in the production are the projections by Mikhail Shraga and Volodymyr Klyuzko, which include archival discoveries and the beautiful engravings by John Payne from the original 1630 edition of Smith’s book, all enlivened with a sense of humor.

Julian Kytasty is one of the world's premier bandura players. A third-generation bandurist, he has concertized throughout the Americas and Europe. In 1989-1990 Kytasty toured Ukraine, performing over one hundred concerts. In his more recent work Mr. Kytasty has redefined the possibilities of the bandura. He has recorded and performed with the Canadian world music group Paris to Kyiv, and with his own groundbreaking Experimental Bandura Trio. His collaborators include artists as diverse as Chinese pipa virtuoso Wu Man, Mongolian master musician Battuvshin, performance poet Bob Holman, pioneering klezmer revivalist Michael Alpert, composer/saxophonist John Zorn and electronic composer Alla Zagaykevych.

Julian Kytasty writes: “this project ties together so many aspects of my music and reflects my interests so perfectly. My instrument, the bandura evolved as an accompanying instrument for epic songs (dumy), many of which describe the same experiences as Smith’s. I perform these epics, but in my compositional work strive to find a new voice for my instrument in a contemporary musical language.”

Bob Holman is the founder and artistic director of the Bowery Poetry Club, and the poet most often connected with the oral tradition, poetry in digital media: spoken word, performance, hiphop, slams, poetry films and endangered languages. He studied poetry at Columbia University where he now teaches. He has published sixteen books of poetry most recently A Couple of Ways of Doing Something, a collaboration with Chuck Close from Aperture. He also produced the award-winning Public Broadcasting System series, The United States of Poetry and is currently working on two Endangered Language Projects:

Bob Holman, says: “Julian’s work gets to the essence of Ukrainian tradition which, when set against the contemporary immediacy of my own work, results in a new kind of translation. Spoken word tradition has bridged the African griot and hip hop. Working with Julian on the Smith material illuminates a different aspect of this tradition – the connection of Ukrainian “duma,” the autobiography of Smith, and my own colloquial contemporary poetry. This mix creates a wide open synthesis, a fresh visioning, for this untold Smith story. My over-the-top love poems fill out the emotional dimension of our piece, while Susan Hwang’s ironic songs undercut them.”

Susan Hwang is a performance artists, musician and song writer, who has appeared at Joe’s Pub and Bowery Poetry Club. She tours internationally with Debutante Hour, and curates the Hip Hop Book Club. She writes: “I enjoy creating my own material and am excited about my character who I see as bringing modern sensibilities into a historical context, allowing for a 21st century reaction to 17th century events.”

Virlana Tkacz is the founding director of Yara Arts Group and has created twenty four original theater pieces with the company, all of which had their American premieres at La MaMa in New York. The Village Voice described Yara’s production of "Circle" as "stunningly beautiful work that rushes at your senses, makes your heart pound, and shakes your feelings loose." Off-Off Online (Michael Bettencourt) labeled Yara’s "Scythian Stones," with the world renowned Ukrainian singer Nina Matvienko and Kyrgyz artists, "Pick of the Week" and wrote, "The performance builds what good theatre should always build: an alternate world that allows us to re-learn and reflect upon the great questions at the core of our being human." She created presentations about using Ukrainian poetry to create New York theatre productions at the Lviv Publishing Forum for the past two years.

Yara Arts Group, founded in 1990, is a resident company of La MaMa Theatre in New York. The troupe transforms original material into experimental theatre productions in a signature style that uses multilingual dialogue and music supported by evocative visuals and projections. Timely issues are explored through the diverse cultural perspectives of the group’s members, bringing 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 fourteen pieces based on materials from Ukraine and Eastern Europe, six theater pieces with Buryat artists from Siberia, three with artists from Kyrgyzstan and three based on Hawaiian and Japanese material.
For additional information please check www.brama.com/yara.

"Captain John Smith Goes to Ukraine" was made possible by support from the Coca Cola Company and friends of Yara Arts Group, as well as public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.

 

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