CURRENT PRODUCTION
FOLLOWING THE MILKY WAY
In 2015 Marina traveled to Ukraine to meet with the last speakers of Old Swedish of Gammalsvensby in Southern Ukraine. The seeds for a new show was sowed, and in the summer of 2018 Marina and Yara Arts Group/Virlana Tkacz, together with master bandura player Julian Kytasty, travelled back to Gammalsvenskby and to Estonia where the Swedish folks started their journey almost 250 years ago, on the island of Hiiumaa.
We premiered our show FOLLOWING THE MILKY WAY at the Kurbas Theatre in Kyiv, Ukraine in juli 2018, as well as have excerpt showings in Gammalsvensky, Kherson Oblast, and in Kharkiv.
Conceived, written by MARINA CELANDER
Performed by MARINA CELANDER
Directed by VIRLANA TKACZ
Music by JULIAN KYTASTY
Visual designs by WALDEMART KLYUZKO
MIRROR BUTTERFLY
My next project was performing in Afro Yaqui Music Collective's phenomenal jazzopera movement and theatre extravaganza MIRROR BUTTERFLY: THE MIGRANT LIBERATION MOVEMENT SUITE.
We premiered this grand production at the New Hazlett Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA, October 12-13, 2018, and then toured to the Kennedy Center's Millenium Stage in Washington DC on November 23, 2018.
Please read more about the production following the link (red button).
Composed by BEN BARSON
Written by RUTH MARGRAFF
Directed by CYNTHIA CROOT
Choreographed by PEGGY CHOY
Performed by Afro Yaqui Music Collective in cooperation with (in alphabetical order):
Ben Barson
Andrew Bayura
Ahmer'e Blackman
Patrick Breiner
Katharine Carlson
Marina Celander
Albert Du
Federico Garcia-De Castro
Weylin Gomez
Jason Gordon
Bernard Grobman
Morgan Hawkins
Yang Jin
Trevor C. Miles
Nejma Nefertiti
Samuel Okoh-Boateng
Ben Opie
Julian Powell
Claudia Quintana
Kelsey Robinson
Gizelxanath Rodriguez
Roger Romero
Ben Rossman
Aidana Yntykbayeva
"My ancestral memory of the North stirs my heart. Songs humming, embroidered runners washed and folded, sagas woven from veins and connective tissue. Memories live in my cells"
"One day after months in this snowy hell, called Vokuta, a man heard me call to mother in Swedish, “Vänta på mig, mamma!”, he stopped and turned. We froze in terror, because mama had said to never talk out loud when others were around. “Are you from Sweden?” “No, we’re from Ukraine, Gammalsvenskby, Old Swedish Village, Staroshwedski.” “So what are you doing in this camp with German spies?” We didn’t know why we were here. But soon my mother, my brother and I were sent home, home to Gammalsvenskby on the Dnipro River."