Lidia Krushelnytsky honored for four decades of work with Ukrainian Stage Ensemble (05/08/05)

Lidia Krushelnytsky honored for four decades of work with Ukrainian Stage Ensemble

by Helen Smindak
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

NEW YORK - For the past four decades, Lidia Krushelnytsky has been directing plays, choral recitations and dramatic readings, instructing actors how to emote, where to stand and how to move. "Louder, please, you won't be heard in the auditorium," she would advise at rehearsals, or "don't wait! You must speak your lines as soon as the others have finished theirs."

The roles were nicely reversed on Sunday afternoon, April 17, when Mrs. Krushelnytsky was obliged to follow directions from others. During a festive luncheon at the posh Pierre Hotel on Fifth Avenue, she was the guest of honor at a dual celebration of her 90th birthday (which fell on May 1) and the 40th anniversary of the Ukrainian Stage Ensemble she's been directing since 1965.

Surrounded by family and friends, she sat quietly, patrician in her bearing as always, her warm smile radiating pleasure as praises, awards and ovations rewarded her long and dedicated work.

Over the years, Mrs. Krushelnytsky honed the raw talents of 250 students, meshing amateur thespian and backstage abilities with the professional skills of guest choreographers, composers, actors and set decorators to produce 150 outstanding performances of plays and dramatic readings. Her troupe, acclaimed in New York and numerous U.S. towns and cities, received public and critical praise during appearances in Ukraine.

In recent years, the ensemble has been welcoming the children of alumni into its ranks, forming a second generation of Krushelnytsky troupers.

The luncheon, brimming with fond reminiscences, good humor and hilarious laughter shared by some 300 guests, brought together 75 alumni - schoolteachers, professors, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs - who had come from as far away as Ohio and California to reunite with their beloved mentor, Pani Lida.

Yaryna Ferencevych of New Jersey phoned from Iraq, where she is stationed as a U.S. foreign service officer, to salute her drama coach and wish her "Mnohaya Lita." Greetings from former students now scattered across the United States and in Kyiv were conveyed in the attractive commemorative journal.

The recipient of many honors and awards, Mrs. Krushelnytsky received three more on this occasion. Keynote speaker Askold Lozynskyj, president of the Ukrainian World Congress, presented to her the highest award given by the congress - a gold St. Volodymyr the Great medal, as well as a letter of recogition from Gov. George Pataki of New York.

The prestigious Kyiv Pectoral, an award from Kyiv governmental and cultural organizations, was presented to Mrs. Krushelnytsky by Dr. Valerij Hajdabura, artistic director of the Ivan Franko Theater in Kyiv.

An additional bonus arrived earlier that day with the birth of her second great-grandchild, Julia Lidia, daughter of Mark and Ana Krushelnytsky of New York.

Honors and awards

Mrs. Krushelnytsky's previous honors include awards and certificates from Ukraine's Ministry of Culture, Kyiv Mayor Oleksander Omelchenko, the Academy of Culture and the Rodovid and Svit societies in Ukraine. In 2002 she was named a Merited Artist of Ukraine by the government of Ukraine.

Her work has been recognized by the Ukrainian National Women's League of America, the UNWLA Regional Council of New York, the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations and the Slavic Heritage Council of America.

She was honored in 1989 with an achievement award presented by the Ukrainian Institute of America. In 1997 she was co-recipient with choreographer/instructor Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky of The Washington Group's "Friend of Ukraine" award.

Mr. Lozynsky, who became a member of the Ukrainian Stage Ensemble in 1965, lauded Mrs. Krushelnytsky for teaching young people to speak correctly in Ukrainian and acquainting them with Ukrainian literary greats, Ukrainian history and the world of Ukrainian fantasy. "She was the blacksmith of our national souls who forged us into lovers of all that is Ukrainian," he summed up.

Mr. Lozynsky pointed out that the Ukrainian Stage Ensemble was not only a school and a "blacksmith shop" but a genuine amateur theater group. "What makes this theater different from others is the original style of the productions, the youthful age of its actors, and the fact that everyone returns to daily occupations after each performance," he said.

He paid homage also to drama teacher/director Olimpia Dobrovolsky, who ran a theater workshop for children and adolescents for five years before handing over the reins to Mrs. Krushelnytsky, and to Mrs. Krushelnytsky's devoted co-workers - the late choreographers Olha Kowalchuk Iwasiwka and Roma Pryma Bohachevsky - and called on another associate, the esteemed composer/musicologist Ihor Sonevytsky, to take a bow from the audience.

Artistic and organizing talent

Dr. Hajdabura marveled at Mrs. Krushelnytsky's artistic and organizing talent. "She took what began as a children's theater and transformed it into a theater worthy of national attention, putting her unique stamp on her ensemble's treatment of Ukrainian classics and many other works for the stage," he said.

He singled out three productions from Mrs. Krushelnytsky's entire opus that would earn her a place among the most courageous and unusual of directors: her staging of the anonymous medieval play "Everyman," Kocherha's "Yaroslav the Wise," and "Sonata Pathetique" by M. Kulish.

"Lidia Krushelnytsky's legacy is the highly intelligent, pedagogical approach and unique aesthetic style she has brought to the Ukrainian stage," Dr. Hajdabura said. "I wish her and her students many more years of successful work."

Mrs. Krushelnytsky's contribution to Ukrainian cultural life was commended by Valeriy Kuchinsky, ambassador from the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations, who attended the event with his wife, Alla, and by Bohdan Kekish, president of the Self Reliance (New York) Federal Credit Union, the luncheon's sponsor.

The Rev. Bernard Panczuk of St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church in Manhattan, delivered the invocation and conveyed greetings from Bishop Basil Losten of the Stamford Eparchy.

The event was planned and presented by the Friends of the Ukrainian Stage Ensemble, all former students of Mrs. Krushelnytsky, headed by chairman Marta Kichorowska-Kebalo and co-chair Sofika Zielyk. Emcee Marta Zielyk, a senior diplomatic interpreter for the U.S. State Department, moved proceedings along at a pleasant pace.

A color film presentation, created by Xenia Piaseckyj and Olexa Hewryk from archives provided by Larysa Zielyk, painted a loving portrait of Lidia Krushelnytsky, singer, actress, teacher, drama coach and director.

Alexander Kmeta and Jaroslav Shul brought down the house with their re-enactment of Edward Kozak's depictions of Ukrainian immigrants conversing in broken English.

Speaking on behalf of the students, Ms. Kebalo delivered warm congratulations to their dedicated teacher. She thanked the ensemble's foremost supporters, the Self Reliance (New York) Federal Credit Union (quoting Pani Lida, who often said "Without Self Reliance, there would be no ensemble"), and Stefan Slywotsky of New York and Jaroslaw Leshko of Northampton, Mass.

Her husband, Orest Kebalo, expressed the students' gratitude to Mrs. Krushelnytsky for her beneficial influence on their lives and the superb example she set in dedicating herself to every aspect of the Ukrainian Stage Ensemble's existence. Whatever the adversity - her mother's death, or a fire at the Ukrainian National Home that destroyed sets and costumes - she refused to call off a performance, he said.

Mrs. Krushelnytsky responded to the afternoon's ovations with a brief address sprinkled with her customary humor and pleasantries, offering heartfelt thanks to the sponsors and supporters of the Ukrainian Stage Ensemble for making it possible for the troupe to achieve its 40th anniversary.

"You made it possible for our young people to become acquainted with the best in Ukrainian literature, both theatrical and poetic, and to become closer to Ukraine," she said.

Equally, she thanked the luncheon organizing committeee for planning the event, but pointed out in mock dismay that "they told me absolutely nothing about the plans - I knew nothing about the program, how everything would look - everything was a big surprise. But I must admit that everything is wonderful."

She announced that, although she suffered some ill health a few weeks earlier, business was going on as usual with the Ukrainian Stage Ensemble. During the past four weeks, she said, rehearsals had been going on in her home for the Stage Ensemble's next productions to mark this 40th anniversary year - Lesia Ukrainka's "Boiaryna" and Hohol's "Inspector General."

Operatic debut in Lviv

Born in Kuty in Ukraine's Hutsul region, Lidia Karatnytsky began her drama during her high school years at a drama workshop in Stanyslaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk). She studied piano and voice at the Stanyslaviv Conservatory, and voice and drama studies at the Lviv Conservatory before making her operatic debut at the Lviv Opera House in 1938.

Shortly after graduating from the Lviv Conservatory in 1939, she married a young lawyer, Leontii Krushelnytsky. Their life changed dramatically in 1941 as World War II forced them to flee to Vienna with their newborn son, Liubomyr. Here the young singer studied voice and was accepted into the Mozarteum International Summer Academy in Salzburg.

Settling in New York with her family in 1949, she joined the Theater-Studio of Joseph Hirniak and Olimpia Dobrovolsky and played many leading roles. The children's workshop she began to direct in 1965 became the new Ukrainian Stage Ensemble, which made its debut in January 1966 and soon afterwards staged its first full production, "The Flying Ship," a fairy tale dramatized by A. Shiyan.

The ensemble's repertoire has included classics of Ukrainian as well as world drama, performed in numerous Ukrainian communities in the U.S. and Canada. An extended tour of Ukraine in 1991 with a classic Ukrainian repertoire met with enthusiastic critical and popular accliam. In 2002, when the ensemble participated in the International Theater Festival in Kyiv, Mrs. Krushelnytsky was honored by presidential decree for her contributions to Ukrainian culture.

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