Documentary Theater Performance
From Yara Arts Group featuring "Diary of War" Project
Directed by: Virlana Tkacz
Compiled by: Daria Kolomiec
Poetry by: Serhiy Zhadan
In English with some Ukrainian.
With: Marina Celander, Hanna Datsko, George Drance, Darien Fiorino, Silvana Gonzalez, Susan Hwang, Daria Kolomiec, Diana Kuzminova and Petro Ninovskyi.
Yara’s Mariupol: Diary of War and the Tree of Life is directed by Virlana Tkacz and features four diaries collected by Daria Kolomiec for her “Diary of War” Project. These include diaries by Yaroslav Semenenko, a member of the Ukrainian National Paralympic swim team; Yevhenia Ivanchenko, a captain in the Mariupol Police; Olena Nikulina, from an old Mariupol family, whose husband defended Azovstal and is currently a Russian captive; and Valeria Mykhailovska, was working in the Czech Republic and decided to return home to Mariupol to rescue her mother.
Yara Arts Group, a resident company at the renowned La MaMa Experimental Theatre, has created over forty original theatre pieces and was awarded a Village Award last year. Director Virlana Tkacz interwove the diaries from Mariupol, adding several poems by Serhiy Zhadan, which she translated with Wanda Phipps, a poem by Victoria Amelina translated by Larissa Babij, as well as poetry Virlana co-wrote with Wanda Phipps. Yara’s Julian Kytasty created the music. Maksym Lozynskyj created the original sound landscape. Tom Lee designed the production with Waldemart Klyuzko. Andrea Minicic did the costumes.
Part of Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival honoring Václav Havel, produced by the Václav Havel Center and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association.
ABOUT THE 2024 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH INTERNATIONAL THEATER FESTIVAL
Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival, honoring Václav Havel, is a showcase of contemporary European theater organized each year in New York City. Conceived in 2017 as a shared endeavor of the Václav Havel Center (VHC) and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association (BBLA), the festival honors the legacy of Czech playwright, dissident and political thinker Vaclav Havel.
Each edition of Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival addresses current sociopolitical trends in Central and Eastern Europe, offering New York audiences a unique opportunity to witness the region’s theatrical zeitgeist.
The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The festival is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.