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Rob Feldman & cast perform Tychyna's "Terror" with projection by Waldemart Klyuzko, photo by Lee Wexler


Julian Kytasty with projection of Tychyna photo by Waldemart Klyzuko


Darien Fiorino performing Tychyna's "Lull" photo: Yuri Semenyuk



Maria Pleshkevych & Marina Celander in Tychyna's "Wheat Rot" photo by Waldemart Klyuzko


Zhadan & the Dogs plus cast sing "Know Your Right" photo by Lee Wexler


 

Yara Arts Group receives TWO New York Innovative Theatre Awards

 Yara Arts Group received two New York Innovative Theatre Awards, which recognize outstanding work in New York City's Off-Off-Broadway Theatres, honoring the essential role it plays in American and global culture. The 14th annual award ceremony were held September 24, 2018.

Yara’s "1917-2017: Tychyna, Zhadan & the Dogs," which performed at La MaMa Experimental Theatre June 9-25, 2017, won as the Best Production of a Musical during the NY Innovative Theatre Award season which runs from June 1 to May 31. Julian Kytasty and Zhadan & the Dogs, who created the music for the show, won a NYIT Award for Outstanding Original Music.

"1917-2017: Tychyna, Zhadan & the Dogs" was an original theatre piece which examined what individuals do when a society crumbles. It was conceived and directed by Virlana Tkacz, using the poetry of Pavlo Tychyna, Ukraine's great 20th century poet and the poems and songs of Serhiy Zhadan, Ukraine's great 21st century poet. The core text of the show was Tychyna collection “Instead of Sonnets and Octaves,” which as Kateryna Kindras noted, was Tychyna’s “real but disturbing testimony about ‘his time’ – the bloody events in Ukraine 1918-1920 during the Red Terror.” In the show the performances of Tychyna’s poetry were punctuated with songs by Zhadan & the Dogs, a Ukrainian nine-member rock group led by Serhiy Zhadan. Zhadan is famous for his poetry and songs about everyday people caught in today's conflict in the war zones of eastern Ukraine.

New York critics loved the show. Time Out New York listed “1917-2017: Tychyna, Zhadan & the Dogs” as “a show to watch for this week.” The critic for New York Wire wrote: “This magnificent performance encourages us to confront the ugliness with vigor and celebrate the beauty that human beings are capable of in the midst of tragedy and error. In our present climate such artistic collaborations as Yara Arts Group has undertaken and La MaMa E.T.C. has supported for more than fifty years are to be valued as a boon.”

Both Julian Kytasty and Zhadan & the Dogs won for Outstanding Original Music. Writing for “Chas I Prostir,” Lydia Korsun noted that, ”Julian Kytasty “conjured” on his bandura his best compositions for theatre so far.” Kytasty’s music accompanied the Tychyna poems, which were interspersed with contemporary Zhadan poems performed as songs by Zhadan & the Dogs. Olena Jennnings felt that “Zhadan’s energy was matched by a colorful background with red and yellow lighting. The dynamic music was a way to bring the poems to heart, to feel them throughout our bodies with the band accentuating the words. The two pieces of the performance converge in a poignant moment when Zhadan picked up a book bound in red cloth, a relic from Tychyna’s time that he brings into the present.”

Responding to the awards Ms. Tkacz wrote: ‘Yara is honored to be recognized by our colleagues in the independent theatre movement of New York. “1917-2017: Tychyna, Zhadan & the Dogs” was Yara’s largest production ever. We brought Serhiy Zhadan and his 8-member rock band from Kharkiv. We had a super Yara cast, plus Bob Holman. The show was powerful and timely and I am very proud of it.” See Yara’s Website (www.brama.com/yara for photos and videos from the show.

Yara is a resident company at La MaMa Theatre and since 1990 has created thirty four international cultural projects with contemporary and traditional artists from Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Siberia.

1917-2017: Tychyna, Zhadan & the Dogs
in NEW YORK:
at La MaMa June 9-25, 2017 information
press release | reviews

1917-2017: Tychyna, Zhadan & the Dogs
in UKRAINE:
Mala Opera - Kyiv March 2017
about event in Ukrainian | photos | more photos
Kurbas Center in Kyiv & Lviv Publishing Forum
& Gogolfest -- Sept 2016
photos| tv coverage | reviews
Kurbas Theatre Center in Kyiv -- March 2016 photos| radio | reactions

On Pavlo Tychyna and Serhiy Zhadan - bios & poetry translated into English
Yara's newest chap book - translation of Tychyna's "Instead of Sonnets or Octaves"

Related Events: Serhiy Zhadan readings in US April, 2017
tour with Yara in Canada & US April, 2016


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