Pennsylvania children perform "vertep" in Washington (01/19/03)

Pennsylvania children perform "vertep" in Washington

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - A group of young Ukrainian American children from Pennsylvania came caroling to the nation's capital on January 9.

They performed a Christmas play at the Embassy of Ukraine at the invitation of Ambassador Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, who saw their performance at the United Nations in December. And, on the way through the capital, they had the bus stop in front of the White House for some impromptu caroling "for the president."

The ensemble was organized by Roman and Danyila Loun of Philadelphia, who wrote, designed and produced a Christmas play called "Peace and Joy to Your Home" that combines elements of the traditional costumed "vertep" caroling group format with what Ukrainian Americans recognize as a "Mykolaiko" program, with St. Nicholas and his angels bearing gifts for good children. The play intertwines segments of Christian and Ukrainian history with Ukrainian Christmas traditions and carols.

The Embassy audience, which included diplomats and invited Ukrainian-American guests, enjoyed the evening, many commenting on the children's exquisite costumes.

Earlier, as the children began caroling in front of the White House, Mr. Loun recalled, they were approached by one of the guards, who asked them what they were doing.

"It's the third day of Ukrainian Christmas," Mr. Loun told the guard, "and we came to carol for the president."

"O.K.," he said the guard replied. "Merry Christmas."

Mr. Loun told The Weekly that his involvement with organizing verteps goes back to 1989 in Ukraine, when, as a board member of the Cultural Fund of Ukraine, he suggested having a nationwide vertep competition. As it turned out, his group from Lviv came out on top in the Kyiv finals. At that time he was also working for Kobza, a Ukrainian-Canadian recording joint venture enterprise that organized the Chervona Ruta Ukrainian song festivals.

He said that he and his wife have been working on Christmas programs in the United States since 1996, when they emigrated here after winning the annual U.S. diversity visa ("green card") lottery. Until last year, these performances were, for the most part, in the "Mykolaiko" format, he said.

Then they decided to do a vertep on a grander scale. The preparation work, including the designing and sewing of costumes, went on throughout the year and culminated in their debut performance as part of the cultural program during Ukrainian Day at the United Nations on December 19. While in New York the 27-member ensemble also performed at the Ukrainian Institute of America.

Three days after their Washington appearance, on January 12, the vertep carolers performed before about 500 enthusiastic fans at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Philadelphia.

Ms. Loun, who is the artistic director, costume designer and co-writer (with her husband) of the vertep, said she was overwhelmed by the hometown audience's enthusiastic reaction to the performance. Afterwards, she said, many parents approached her about getting their children involved in future productions. According to Mr. Loun, they plan to expand their cultural programming in the future.

Except for carolers George, Larysa and Oleksander Woskobiynyk, who are third-generation Ukrainian Americans from State College, Pa., the ensemble consists of children of recent, Fourth Wave immigrants from Ukraine living in the Philadelphia area, Mr. Loun said.

The other carolers are: Maryan Bodnar, Christopher Kril, Daria and Maria Loun, Marian Petryk, Julia Stupen, Julia Vasilovski, Maria Vengrenyuk, Greg Yakimiw and Natalia Zaichlyi.

The cast also includes Daryna Kutuza and Oksana Vovchyk as the two angels; Alexander Kutuza as King Herod; and Oleg Stupen, Dmitro Tsyuman and Roman Vengrenyuk as the three Ukrainian grand princes. Mr. Loun plays St. Nicholas; and helping the ensemble vocally is the Holubka quartet (listed in the program as "Golubka") - Halyna Bodnar, Maria Kaminsky, Nadya Petryk and Halyna Stupen.

The ensemble's performances in New York were sponsored by the International Union of Ukrainian Businessmen Inc., and received financial support from a small group of sponsors: Meest Media Corp., Halyna and Oleksij Woskobijnyk, New York's two Ukrainian credit unions - Ukrainian National Federal Credit Union and Self Reliance (NY) FCU - and the Selfreliance Ukrainian-American FCU of Chicago.

Transportation costs for the Washington excursion, however, were covered by the performers themselves, as well as audience donations, dropped into a caroler's hat after the performance.

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