Created by Virlana Tkacz, Julian Kytasty and Tom Lee

“There are those who cannot see and who are not seen.  But their music can open our eyes. Light pours in, like magic, and we are brought home…”

Yara Arts Group’s “The Magic of Light” interweaves puppetry, language, music and poetry to illustrate the cultural and spiritual awakening of an artist in the 1870s.  Inspired by the haunting epic songs of Ukrainian blind bards (kobzari), a young man embarks on a lifelong quest to record, preserve and illuminate Ukrainian traditions against the tremendous pressures of history.  The production is performed with an intimate, transforming puppet stage by puppeteer Tom Lee and features musician Julian Kytasty, a third-generation master of the bandura, a traditional Ukrainian plucked-stringed folk instrument.