MARIUPOL: DIARIES OF WAR AND THE TREE OF LIFE captures the resilience of Ukrainians in a multi-media performance about Russia’s full-scale invasion of the city. Production created by Yara Arts Group and directed by Virlana Tkacz, features four Mariupol diaries collected by Daria Kolomiec for her “Diary of War” Project and poetry by Serhiy Zhadan, Ukraine best-known poet. Julian Kytasty created the music, Tom Lee designed the production with Waldemart Klyuzko and Andrea Minicic the costumes. Yara artists: Hanna Datsko, George Drance, Darien Fiorino, Silvana Gonzalez, Oksana Horban, Susan Hwang, Daria Kolomiec, Diana Kuzminova, and Petro Ninovskyi perform in English with some Ukrainian.
The Mariupol diaries are 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 returned to Mariupol from the Czech Republic to rescue her mother.