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wonderful welcoming party for Yara which was attended by a number of Ukrainian writers, actors and American Embassy staff. Then the entire cast and staff of BLIND SIGHT of over 20 traveled to Kharkiv where we continued to rehearse at the Shevchenko National Theatre under the auspices of the Les Kurbas Theatre Center. Here, for instance, we developed the scene that would become the signature piece of the show — the staging of Yero- shenko’s “The Land of Dreams.” As Yeroshenko sat crushed after having to once again accept his blindness, a tiny window opened in the wall in back of him. In it an African and an Asian American actor who spoke English and a Ukrainian actress described his vision of Utopia. They urged him to fly off with them to this land of dreams, and Yeroshenko stretched his arms out like a soaring bird. While in Kharkiv, we were invited to the Kotlia- revsky Institute for the International Theatre Day to meet with the theatre students. After brief introductions, the students and actors asked each other many ques tions and a very interesting and lively discussion took place. The Berezil International Theatre Festival opened in Kharkiv on March 31st. This was the first all-Ukrainian International Theatre Festival, and included the best of contemporary Ukrainian theatre, as well as innovative work of theatre artists from Brazil, Belorus, France, Israel, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Spain and the United States. Contemporary dramas, classical plays, experi mental theatre pieces and puppet plays were presented. The program also included a number of conferences, master classes, workshops and lectures. Yara performed on April 2nd and 3rd at Berezil Theatre of the Shevchenko National Theatre to an abso lutely packed room. The Festival organized a special press conference for Yara and Ellen Stewart, the artistic director of La Mama where Yara is a resident company, one of the most highly honored women in American theatre. This was her second trip to Ukraine. She had been in Kiev with our show IN THE LIGHT in August of 1991 when the coup happened in Moscow. Now she came to Kharkiv to be with her “babies” and to see the Festival. She also talked about Les Kurbas and the importance of introducing his spirit of experimentation into the theatre in Ukraine today. There was also a scholarly conference on Les Kur bas in Kharkiv in conjunction with the Festival. I pres ented a paper on Les Kurbas’s production of JIMMIE HIGGINS. Reviewing the highlights of the Festival for HOLOS UKRAINY, Yuri Stanishevsky wrote: La Mama, the American theatre from New York, gener ated an enormous amount of interest with its production of BLIND SIGHT, created by the gifted director Virlana Tkacz... The startling directorial concept of her impro vised avant-garde production had great impact, as did the seminal, conceptually unique paper she presented at the International Theatre Studies Conference... Although we were very busy with our own show, we were able to attend the official Festival opening and the performance by Kiev’s Franko National Theatre of TEVIA, a dramatic version of the FIDDLER ON THE ROOF story. We also saw the performance by Madrid’s La Bar- raka Theatre and went out with the members of the Lviv Young Theatre when they came to see our show. We hope to work together next spring on our version of Lesia Ukrainka’s FOREST SONG. Immediately following our second performance, we left Kharkiv for Kiev where we performed BLIND SIGHT at the International Experimental Theatre Festival — “Druhe Mystetske Berezillia”. Artists and journalists flocked to the performance in Kiev. The audience in cluded a number of foreign diplomats, including the representative of Japan in Kiev, who loved the show. The reviewer for the Kievan newspaper KHRESHCHATYK wrote: The actors’ movements are precise, their words expres sive, their feeling for the time period — impressive. The production’s music — contemporary... Lights are used in very original manner... Penetrating portrayals of the characters of Vasyl and Anna are created by Andrew Colteaux and Richarda Abrams. The entire ensemble is wonderful. The Ukrainian-speaking actors, Olia Radchuk, Mykola Shkaraban and Stepan Pasichnyk, supplement the troupe well. Next morning, on April 6th, we left for New York, taking with us the two Ukrainian actors. Several days later we opened BLIND SIGHT at La Mama. The VILLAGE VOICE wrote: BLIND SIGHT is like a ballet without dance, or a fantasy by a modernist Watteau, delicate and ethereal in the extreme, yet somehow simultaneously as tough as steel, hard as nails. It’s a “conceptual piece,” an extended meditation on the idea of blindness and yet — perhaps because it is based on actually experienced feeling and events — it moves about firmly in the realms of reality.... That BLIND SIGHT works at all is a minor miracle; that it works so well is a blessing. Our work with the Ukrainian cast and staff in Kiev and Kharkiv had a significant impact on the structure of BLIND SIGHT and contributed to its success. It also had a great impact on all the individuals involved. The Ukrainians were introduced to our methods of work and our attitudes. People coudn’t get over how intensely we worked and how much we would accomplish in a very short period of time. The trip to Ukraine deepened our undertanding of the circumstances from which Yero shenko emerged. The difficulties of everyday life in a foreign country also revealed to the American actors the true genius of this man, who despite his lack of sight managed to “see” so much of the world. 20 ’’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ВЕРЕСЕНЬ 1993 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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