Alexandra Exter: Queen of the Avant-Garde
Alexandra Exter:
Queen of the Avant-Garde
coming to La MaMa
Downstairs Theatre
New York City
June 10-20, 2027
created by Virlana Tkacz & Yara Arts Group
director: Virlana Tkacz
music by Susan Hwang, Yaryna Turyanska & Julian Kytasty
choreography Oksana Horban
video by Pavlo Terekhov, projections by Darien Fiorino
costumes by Keiko Obremski, graphics by Waldemart Klyuzko
English translation by Virlana Tkacz & Wanda Phipps
production coordinator: Dora Graham
with:
Susan Hwang as Alexandra Exter
Darien Fiorino as Dmytro Horbachoc
Svitlana Kosolapova as Natalia Davidova live
Yarayna Turyanska as Natalia Davydova on video
Oksana Horban as the spirit of Exter's work
Julian Ktasty as the bandurist on video
Bob HOlman as David Burliukon video
Maksym Lozynskyj as the New York Times
Petro Ninovskyj as Ardengo Soffici
Alexandra Exter: Queen of the Avant-Garde
workahop production June 30, 2026, New York City
reactions to show | workshop program
photos by Pavlo Terekhov
Alexandra Exter the painter from Kyiv who brought color to Cubism.
Yara Arts Group’s new theatre piece features actor/songwriter Susan Hwang as the painter from Kyiv who brought color to Cubism. Dancer Oksana Horban portrays the spirit of Exter’s painting while Yaryna Turyanska sings traditional Ukrainian songs. The beginning centers on Alexandra Exter’s first project, the exhibition of Ukrainian embroidery that opened what is now the National Museum of Art in Kyiv in 1906. The first act of Yara’s piece explores the impact this seminal experience had on Exter’s work culminating in her unique “Color Dynamics” series of paintings. The second act highlights Exter’s pioneering design of clothes, especially her groundbreaking Martian costumes for “Aelita Queen of Mars,” a 1924 Soviet sci-fi film classic.