UKELODEON: For The Next Generation (10/10/99)

UKELODEON

For The Next Generation

14-year-old plays role of Juliet in Saskatoon

SASKATOON - Behind the set of "Romeo and Juliet," Shakespearean sonnets run through 14-year-old Anastasia Tataryn's mind as as she dances around, burning off energy in preparation for her stellar performance. Juliet, in her orange and yellow leaf-covered costume, is ready to meet her Romeo.

Anastasia Tatryn was surprised and delighted when Hery Woolf, the play's artistic director, asked her to audition for the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Festival.

He had seen Anastasia performing in a production of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" and recruited her, "the youngest Juliet in the history of our theatre and possibly in Canada, " according to Mr. Woolf. The Ukrainian Juliet's summer has been dedicated to her acting career.

Anastasia performed two or three nights a week, in addition to two weekend shows at the Shakespeare festival, from July 7 to August 22. This unexpected experience has been "lots of fun" and she found the cast to be really helpful and great to work with.

A July 9 review in The Star Phoenix of Saskatoon noted that "a radiant Anastasia Tataryn [appears] in her first professional role as Juliet."

The review also noted: "There's a scene with Juliet on the balcony that people are going to love. It's her first chance to really speak, and Tataryn was nothing less than beguiling the way she glowed with first love and, more importantly, made the lines her own. She actually knew what the words meant, and was able to bring them to life."

Anastastia has been acting as long as she's been speaking. Her first performances took place in the basement of her dad's church. (Anastasia's father, the Rev. Myroslav Tataryn, is a Ukrainian Catholic priest.) She grew up in St. Catharine's, Ontario, where she often performed monologues at school. Since her family moved to Saskatoon three years ago, Anastasia has performed in various community plays and musicals at St. Joseph's High School, where she is an 11th grade student. Anastasia performed in "Anne of Green Gables" with Saskatoon Summer Players as well as "Macbeth" and "Doc" with Newman Players. Her role as Juliet is her debut in professional theatre.

Anastasia is even busier during the school year than in the summer. After school, Anastasia takes ballet, Ukrainian dance and piano lessons. She is an active member of student council and of her school choir.

Does Anastasia hope to pursue a career in theatre? Anastasia's mature perpective on life puts her amazing achievement into perpective. "I definitely want to do theatre in the future," replied Anastasia. But, she would like to incoporate it into her future plans, "through law, maybe." She is sure that she wants to travel, learn different languages (she speaks Ukrainian at home) and experience different cultures.

"I'd really like to go to Stratford," she added. Stratford-upon-Avon, England, birthplace of William Shakespeare's, and the site where annual Shakespeare festivals are held.

Parma student is finalist in science challenge

PARMA, Ohio - This past year, more than 50,000 students from around the country entered science projects at local and regional science fairs. Four thousand of these students were entered in the Discovery Young Scientist Challenge. From this group 40 finalists were selected and will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington for the competition finals and their chance to win over $40,000 in scholarships.

Fourteen-year-old Larissa Paschyn from Parma, Ohio, was the only Ohioan selected as a finalist. A graduate of St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic School and current freshman at Parma Senior High School, her science project "Wetland or Wasteland" earned top honors at local and state science fairs. Her entry into the Discovery Science Challenge was judged on its scientific merit and her ability to communicate the science of the project. She will go to Washington on October 13-17 to compete for final recognition.

Larissa became interested in wetland habitats after reading an article that discussed natural and newly constructed wetlands. Larissa believes that scientists should consider manipulating the plants, soil, and bacteria/micro-organism levels in newly constructed wetlands to utilize them in treating waste.

In her project, she tested her hypothesis, that the vascular systems of wetland plants reduce the levels of contaminants more quickly and efficiently than the microbial/bacterial levels of the soil. After testing wetland plants and soil separately in waste solution, she concluded that the wetland plants did purify the waste solution better than the soil.

Although her conclusions supported her hypothesis, she noted that simply manipulating wetland plant life was not the solution because of the delicate natural balance in the wetland ecosystem. The plants need the rich wetland soil for nutrients and support.

Apart from her interest in sciences she enjoys reading and writing stories. She is active in the Parma community, was president of the SJS Student Council and is a member of the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM), St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral Choir, the Kashtan School of Ukrainian Dance, and the Kytasty School of Bandura. She is also involved in her high school's choir and flag corps.

Does it bite?

And you thought you had big mosquitoes in your neck of the woods ... How about the mosquito in Komarno, Manitoba? It has a wingspan of 15 feet. Designed by Marlene Hound, the monument is a weather vane and revolves on its base. We first heard about the monument several years back from The Ukrainian Weekly's intrepid columnist Chris Guly. Then we decided to see if there was any information about the giant mosquito of Komarno and, lo and behold, there it was on "Big Things: The Monuments of Canada," the personal website of one David Yanciw, who says he has identified 150 "big things" in Canada, including the world's largest oilcan, the world's largest Easter egg [yes, the same pysanka featured in UKELODEON in March], the world's largest "pyrogy"... Check out his site at: http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/yanciw/bigthing.html

Time Travelers of the Millennium
Traveling through Ukraine's history a century a day

by Lydia Dumyn

TORONTO - For a period of two weeks this summer, St. Vladimir Institute stirred with the laughter and the excitement of young boys and girls. Ranging in age from 6 to 12, the children embarked on a two-week interstellar adventure through time, which took place between August 9 and the 20.

"Time Travelers of the Millennium: A Romp Through 1,000 Years of Ukrainian History" offered children the opportunity to travel through every time period of Ukrainian history at the pace of a century a day. The young time travelers heard tales about the many fascinating people who made Ukrainian history, took part in games, made crafts, went on outings, and had an all-around great time.

With the help of Maria Rypan, program director, and Tony Rocchi, librarian, this year's camp director, Lydia Dumyn, planned and executed the Spadina day camp. The experienced, enthusiastic counselors were also most valuable to the camp's success.

The arrival of special guests to help teach the children about Ukrainian history provided a great deal of variety within the daily program. What a line-up! The children got to meet the gods of the pre-Christian times, thanks to Mr. Rocchi and his colorful story telling technique. They heard the legends of Prince Volodymyr and his court from Roman Velitchko, and they even learned to dance with the Kozaks in the persons of Taras Demerson and Evhen Pawluk.

The "vertep" puppet making and show was a pleasure for the children to take part in and view. The Rev. Bohdan Sencio, chaplain of St. Vladimir Institute, participated by giving a tour of St. Volodymyr Cathedral. The campers met numerous artisans who made diverse crafts, poets of Ukraine, and freedom fighters of the past and present.

The children even marched in the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Independence Day Parade with their very own float of a time machine.

With trips around Toronto, arts, crafts and games, the two action-packed weeks of camp were a great and memorable way to spend the last summer of the millennium.

Thanks for your greeting!

Since our last issue of UKELODEON, The Ukrainian Weekly has received a greeting from the "Mandrivki Stezhky Kultury," a Plast camp that took teenagers and young adults on a tour of Ukraine. A sincere "thank you" to all 64 signatories! Did you read about this unique camp in The Weekly's August 22 issue?

Mishanyna

Locate the words or phrases below to solve our October Mishanyna. All of the following are somehow related to the month of October or schooltime. (You might need to look in two adjoining lines/columns to find a phrase.)

autumn, black cat, boo, candy, costume, fall, ghost, goblin, Halloween, jack-o'-lantern, leaves, mask, masquerade, October, orange, pumpkin, red, spook, treat, trick, witch, yellow

(Did we trick you? The word "trick" is missing!)

Myshka's masquerade

Mykola and his sister Marika are ready for a masquerade. Are you? Color in the large Myshka just as you will be dressed. Then send your picture in to UKELODEON. Myshka would love to see what you will be for Halloween!

CHECK IT OUT!

On pages 10 and 11 of this issue read about Plast camps in Michigan and bandura camps in Pennsylvania and Ontario. In the centerfold read about the Kashtan School of Ukrainian Dance in Cleveland.

OUR NEXT ISSUE:

UKELODEON is published on the second Sunday of every month. To make it into our next issue, dated November 14, please send in your materials by November 5.

Please drop us a line: UKELODEON, The Ukrainian Weekly, 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054; fax, (973) 644-9510. Call us at (973) 292-9800; or send e-mail to [email protected].

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