Yara Arts Group
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Mission Statement
YARA ARTS GROUP creates visually stunning theatre pieces that explore cultures of the East. Because of the diversity of our artists, we have privileged access to magnificent texts from overlooked cultures. Each Yara production is an original theatre piece created in rehearsal with texts we have translated. We collaborate with international artists who perform with us in their own languages. What follows is a layering of languages, images, music, rhythms and textures that are unique in origin, but alike in their impact on the heart. Our designers and composers join our rehearsals. Together we create original theatre productions in Yara’s signature style of: multilingual dialogue and songs supported by evocative visuals, music and movement. Since 1990 we have created 40 theatre pieces based on extensive research in Eastern Europe, Siberia and Asia. Recently we created, “Dark Night, Bright Stars” about the meeting in 1859 of Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, and the African American tragedian Ira Aldridge, which addressed the question of slavery, stereotypes, and art. “1917-2017: Tychyna, Zhadan & the Dogs” used poetry from 1917 and 2017 to examine, how ordinary people behave when society fall apart. We were awarded two NY Innovative Theatre Awards, including best Musical Production for this show. In December 2019 we premiered Opera GAZ which we created with Nova Opera from Kyiv. New York critics wrote: “Finally, an apocalyptic theater piece that left me wanting to see it resurrected from the ashes of its infernal chaos. A must see if you hear it is being remounted.” “La MaMa must be congratulated for bringing this astounding work to NYC.” Our most recent work includes "Radio 477!" about Kharkiv, Ukraine, based on a jazz score from Kharkiv in 1929, the musical-cabaret "Slap!" about Futurist painter David Burliuk, and "The Magic of Light," a theater piece with puppets, described as "exquisite"; "The content of this production is sobering and unflinching. But the puppets who serve as the messengers of that content are spellbinding vessels of delight." (NY Theatre Wire" We have also created numerous events with poetry music and art, including the monthly UKR Co-Lab Series which tests new work and ideas and fosters collaborations. Yara has also published books, CDs and produced art exhibitions, films and videos.
About This Cause
Yara Arts Group is a company of American artists of Asian, African, Latino, Eastern and Western European ancestry, who come together to create original theatre pieces. Because of the diversity of our artists, we have privileged access to magnificent texts from overlooked cultures from the East. Our efforts are collaborative; we bring together fragments of plays, poems, songs, myths and historical sources to create original work that is reflective of the cultures we explore. We have created 40 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. We strive to use the language of experimental theatre to break down interpretive barriers among cultures, histories and languages. Yara’s international projects have taught us different ways of handling language differences. What many view as a “problem,” inspired us to create our multilingual theatre pieces in which each actor speaks in his or her own language, and we shift the language balance with the audience in mind. Translations of poems and songs are intertwined with the original to create a polyphonic soundscape. We believe theatre can communicate with everyone in the world. We measure our success by our ability to open our audiences to the ideas addressed in our pieces, so that they reconsider their own opinions and worldview. Since 1990, Yara has created 40 original theatre pieces that have premiere at La MaMa Experimental Theatre. Our recent work includes: “Dark, Night, Bright Stars (2016),” “Hitting Bedrock (2015),” “Capt. John Smith Goes to Ukraine” (2014) “Fire Water Night” (2013) and “Raven” (2011) based on Ukrainian poetry; “Scythian Stones”(2010) based on women’s laments from Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine; “Er Toshtuk”(2009) based on a Kyrgyz epic from Central Asia; “After the Rain”(2008) and “Shank’s Mare (2015) based on Japanese short stories;, a native Hawaiian story (which toured Hawaii in 2010); and “Still the River Flows” (2008),“Winter Sun”(2010) and “Midwinter Night” (2012) and “Winter Light” (2014) based on Carpathian Mountain winter solstice songs. Over the years Yara has created almost original theatre pieces with theatre companies and artists from Ukraine. Translation is an essential part of Yara’s creative process and Virlana has always worked with African-American poet Wanda Phipps on translations of contemporary Ukrainian poetry and traditional material. Together they have received the Agni Poetry Translate Prize, twelve New York State Translation Grants, and The National Theatre Translation Fund Award and the National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Translation Fellowship for their work on Serhiy Zhadan’s poetry. Yara’s “Scythian Stones” provoked a reviewer to write: “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.” “Waterfall/Reflections” (1995), with legendary folksinger Nina Matvienko, was called a “theatrical enchantment” by the New York Times. We have also worked on several productions with Buryat Mongolians. The Voice called our show “Circle” based on Siberian ghost stories and wedding rituals, “a stunningly beautiful work that rushes at your senses, makes your heart pound, and shakes your feelings loose.” Our shows have also performed at universities such as Harvard, international festivals in Europe and Asia, and on tour in the countries where we originally recorded the material that inspired our productions. Yara has produced hundreds of workshops, lectures, concerts, poetry readings, art exhibits and master classes that focus on cultural diversity. For instance, we have created 20 major festivals of new art, poetry and music at the Ukrainian Institute in New York. Yara has also co-produced 8 CDs, 4 documentary films, 5 books of poetry and tales. Our award-winning books include one on rituals we witnessed in Siberia and another on Kyrgyz epic theatre. Yara Arts Group is a resident company at the world renowned La MaMa Experimental Theater in New York. Yara Arts Group was incorporated in 1990 as a not-for-profit arts organization with a 501 (c ) 3. Yara projects have been funded by the US Department of State, United States Information Agency, the US Embassy in Kyiv, the US Embassy in Bishkek, the New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, ArtsLink, a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, Open Society – Soros Center for Contemporary Art and Citizen's Exchange Council, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, A.R.T./NY, Rockefeller Foundation, Trust for Mutual Understanding, Christensen Fund, Carr Foundation, Meet the Composer/ International Creative Collaborations in partnership with the Ford Foundation, Japan Foundation, Global Commitment Foundation, Arts International, International Theatre Institute/USA, Fund for US Artists at International Festivals, Katherine Dalglish Foundation, Kyiv's America House, National Translation Fund supported by Rockefeller Foundation and Pew Charitable Trust, the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, Lifebridge Foundation and the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, as well as numerous corporations such as the Coca Cola Company and individuals. Yara Arts Group's international exchange programs have taken place between U.S. Artists and their counterparts in Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, China and Japan. Yara Arts Group is headed by artistic director Virlana Tkacz. Yara’s board includes: Sam Glazer, chairperson with members Sarah Foote, Tom Lee and Adrian Karatnycky. Yara Arts Group is a resident company at the world renowned La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York.