Mariupol: Diary of War and the Tree of Life 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, who was working in the Czech Republic and decided to return home to Mariupol to rescue her mother.

Mariupol: Diary of War and the Tree of Life. Presented by: Yara Arts Group. Directed by: Virlana Tkacz. Compiled by: Daria Kolomiec. Poetry by: Serhiy Zhadan. Cast: Marina Celander, Hanna Datsko, George Drance, Darien Fiorino, Silvana Gonzalez, Susan Hwang, Daria Kolomiec, Diana Kuzminova and Petro Ninovskyi. In English with some Ukrainian.

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.

This event is part of the 2024 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival: Dark Dreams. For more information, visit rehearsalfortruth.org.

Free and open to the public. Suggested donation $10. Seats are limited, on first-come, first-served basis. Online registration is required.

The 2024 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival: Dark Dreams is organized by BBLA and the Vaclav Havel Center. The program 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. The festival is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Rehearsal for Truth International Theater Festival is an annual showcase of contemporary Central and Eastern European theater, established in 2017. The festival is a shared endeavor of the Vaclav Havel Center and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association in partnership with numerous other cultural and performing arts organizations. The festival honors the artistic and political legacy of the Czech playwright/dissident/president Vaclav Havel. We support exchanges between American and European theater professionals and celebrate the power of the theater to transform our lives.