birth_place image_size birth_date image article_title education name occupation
newark , new jersey 200px 23 june 1952 virlana tkacz.jpg virlana tkacz
 bennington college and columbia university virlana tkacz theatre director
virlana tkacz

virlana tkacz -lrb- born june 23 , 1952 in newark , nj -rrb- is the founding director of the yara arts group , a resident company at the world-renowned la mama experimental theatre club in new york .
she was educated at bennington college and columbia university , where she earned a master of fine arts in theatre directing .
with yara she created twenty-nine original theatre pieces based on fragments of contemporary poetry and traditional songs , chants , myth , history and legends .
although grounded in traditional material , yara 's pieces are experimental in essence , employing projections and complex musical scores to explore our relationship to time and consciousness .
