Yara Arts Group

Yara Arts Group is a resident company at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York. Established in 1990, Yara is a collective of artists of Asian, African, Latino, Eastern and Western European ancestry, who come together to create original work based on traditional material from often-overlooked Eastern cultures. The artists bring together fragments of plays, poems, songs, myths and historical sources to create original work that is reflective of the culture they explore. The group has created 24 original theatre pieces based on extensive research in Eastern Europe, Siberia and Asia in Yara’s signature style of: multilingual dialogue and songs supported by evocative visuals and documentation. Yara’s productions have examined unique moments of cultural exchange that are based on documentary material, as well as modern poetry. The shows have been well received by audiences and press from the very beginning.
Artists
Over the years, Yara has developed a pool of actors, singers, musicians, poets and other artists from New York, Kyiv, Kyrgyzstan and Buryatia. In the constantly fluctuating world of theatre, Yara has been able to foster allegiance among a very diverse group of artists and provide them with opportunities to create original work and perform it. Through these artists, Yara has developed an equally diverse audience base.
The Yara artistic family includes: Virlana Tkacz (Fulbright and NEA Fellow, award-winning director and translator named Honored Artist of Ukraine), Watoku Ueno (NEA/TCG award-winning designer), Wanda Phipps (NYFA award-winning poet), Shona Tucker (Audelco award-winning actress), Susan Hyon (Shubert Theatre Award-winning actress and Fulbright Fellow), Julian Kytasty (virtuoso of the Ukrainian bandura), Nina Matviyenko (legendary folk singer in Kyiv) Mariana Sadovska (award-winning actress and singer), Andrea Odezynska (award-winning filmmaker), Margaret Morton(award-winning photographer), Eugene Hutz and Gogol Bordello (popular Ethno Avant-Garde NY band), Sayan and Erzhena Zhambalov (Honored Artists of the Republic of Buryatia, Siberia), Kenzhegul Satybaldieva and Ainura Kachkinbek kyzy (award-winning Kyrgyz actresses), as well as many talented New York actors.
East Europe
Yara has extensive international experience. In 1991 it was the first company to create a joint American-Ukrainian theatre project, conducting workshops and then performing an original bilingual theatre piece with Yara and local artists. In the Light opened the Franko National Theatre in Kyiv the week that began with the fall of the Soviet Union and ended with Ukraine proclaiming independence. Other projects based on Ukrainian material include Explosions, Blind Sight, Yara’s Forest Song based on Lesya Ukrainka’s verse play, Waterfall/Reflections with Nina Matvienko, Kupala and Song Tree with Mariana Sadovska and Gogol Bordello. Yara has also created three original theatre pieces inspired by the work of Ukrainian poet Oleh Lysheha, these include: Swan (2003), Raven(2011) and Dream Bridge(2012). In 2013 Yara revisited "Forest Song" creating a new piece Fire Water Night.
Yara Arts Group began its collaboration with traditional artists from the Carpathians in 1995. In 2003 and 2004, Yara artists recorded the winter song ritual in Kryvorivnia and the surrounding villages. During the Orange Revolution of 2004 Yara created Koliada at the Les Kurbas Theatre Center in Kyiv with Ukrainian and American actors and included two Koliadnyky from Kryvorivnia in the performance. Since then Yara has created a series of theatre pieces that involve the Koliadnyky including Koliada: Twelve Dishes (2005), Still the River Flows (2008) with the great instrumentalist Mykhailo Tafichuk and the American actress Nina Arianda, Winter Sun (2010) with the vocalist Aurelia Shrenker and Eva Salina Primack, and Midwinter Night (2012) with the self-described Canadian "Balkan-Klezmer-Gypsy-Punk-Super-Party-Band" The Lemon Bucket Orkestra.
Yara's photographs of the Koliada ritual in the village of Kryvorivnia have been exhibited at RA Gallery in Kyiv, La MaMa's Galleria and Ukrainian Institute in New York, Spring Street Gallery in Saratoga Springs, and were a part of a major art installation at the Ukrainian Museum in New York in 2005.
In 2008 a bilingual anthology of translations by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps from these productions was published by Sribne Slovo. The book includes descriptions of the performances and photographs.
Siberia
With support from the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, Yara created and performed three projects in Siberia and Mongolia. These include Virtual Souls (1996) at the National Theatre in Ulan Ude, Flight of the White Bird (1998) at the National Theatre in Ulan Ude and the village cultural centers of the Aga Buryat Region, and Circle (2001) at the Opera House in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Yara also created the shows Obo: Our Shamanism, Howling and The Warrior’s Sister with Buryat artists. The reviewer for American Theatre Web called The Warrior’s Sister: “Multilingual, though easily accessible to English-speaking audiences, the performance reminds us of what theater should be and rarely is—the opportunity to step to a world that is virtually unknown to us…The simplicity of the approach to an epic tale is what makes it so effective. Inventiveness and ingenuity are on display in all aspects of this production, which succeeds at making the unknown familiar to us.”
Eva Yaa Asantewaa, critic for the Village Voice, wrote: ““A stunningly beautiful work, Circle rushes at your senses, makes your heart pound, and shakes your feelings loose."
“It isn't often that one can enjoy such a satisfying evening of theatre perfectly fused with music. This is what good art is all about -- exhilarating, uplifting and entertaining. And for the world music lover, it is a feast of gorgeous singing, authentic costuming and masterly instrumental playing.” Michal Shapiro, Rhythm, the World Music Magazine, August 2000.
Japan
Watoku Ueno, a founding member of Yara and resident designer, has created two theatre productions with the company at La MaMa. Sundown was about Japan’s first photographer and After the Rain was based on three short stories by RyÅ«nosuke Akutagawa, including “Rashomon.” Kat Chamberlain wrote:"Creator Watoku Ueno and the Yara Arts Group have put tremendous thought into the aesthetics of the piece. It opens beautifully, with one of the most original and intriguing set designs I have ever seen. It serves up one surprise after another… It is exquisite… The music by the composer/guitarist/sound designer Kato Hideki seamlessly merges with the striking visuals and accentuates the poignancy of the stories.”
Central Asia
In 2005 Yara initiated the first Kyrgyz-American theatre project, Janyl, which was performed at La MaMa in 2007 and returned to Kyrgyzstan that summer to perform in the capital, as well as in the village cultural centers. In 2008 University of Central Asia published , which featured 15 photographs from Janyl. In 2008 Yara created Er Toshtuk using the text of one of the oldest Kyrgyz epics. The show performed at La MaMa in April 2009. The reviewer for Backstage wrote: "The epic is full of humor and terrific physicality. Azamat Serkebaev, a Kyrgyz actor who plays Chalkyuruk, the Magic Horse, captures horsiness with each whinny, leg kick, and look. His performance ought to be a requirement for every actor in New York, particularly those interested in physical work. When the horse gets homesick and misses his herd, you want to cry too (and give him a lump of sugar). As the bride Kenzheke (and in a few other roles), American Susan Hyon has simple charm. In the title role, Kyrgyz actor Umarbek Kadyrov beautifully conveys callow arrogance growing to courage and gallantry. Er Toshtuk is a small gem bringing a new flavor to a New York palate."
Gwen Owen, Backstage, March 30, 2009
In 2010, Virlana Tkacz created Scythian Stones with Ukrainian folk singer Nina Matviyenko and her daughter Tonia, together with Kyrgyz actresses Kenzhegul Satbaldieva and Ainura Kachkynbek kyzy. Michael Bettencourt named it Pick of the Week, writing: “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.” Mitchell Conway wrote: “Gorgeous Ukrainian and Kyrgyz traditional songs performed by women with exquisite voices accompanied elegantly by ancient instruments, as well as stunning changes of tone with the contemporary duo “The Debutante Hour” combine to create a beautiful soundscape … Scythian Stones is unlike anything I’ve heard before.”
Production List

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