New Victory Arts Break: Baba Yaga and the Firebird

New Victory Arts Break videos and activities are designed to have your family ready and raring for showtime before you even leave home. Here’s how to use them! All set? Then let’s get creative together and prep your kid for Baba Yaga and the Firebird with the activities below.

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New Victory Arts Break videos are filmed at the New Victory Theater. We acknowledge that New Victory resides on the seized homeland of the Lenape people and the intertribal territory of many First Nations. We celebrate and pay deep respect to all Indigenous peoples, past, present and future, and we encourage you to learn more about these vibrant communities.

Did You Know?

Baba Yaga and the Firebird is a new musical that draws on the epic themes and characters of Slavic folklore. Here are a few fun facts to share with your kid before showtime, plus a video trailer offering a sneak peek from rehearsal!

• Storytellers Anton Dudley and Faye Chiao play 17 characters all by themselves (with the help of a few puppets and some quick costume changes)!
• The Slavic folktales that inspired the story emphasize the magic of nature and finding hope in dark circumstances.
• The sometimes helpful, sometimes hurtful character of Baba Yaga—more mischievous earth goddess than wicked witch—appears in over 400 Slavic folktales, and different stories depict her in slightly different ways!

For a taste of Slavic storytelling before seeing the show, check out author-illustrator Patricia Polacco’s Babushka Baba Yaga and J. L. Jaroslavs’ illustrated collection of over 60 folktales, Slavic Soul Myths and Legends.

Try It Out!

The story of Baba Yaga and the Firebird is an epic adventure told in a creative way. Inspired by the show’s many characters, have some fun playing with costuming to transform yourselves and tell an original tale!

1. Look around and select a piece of fabric with your kid. It could be a scarf, a blanket, a hand towel or even a simple tissue, and it will become their costume!
2. Ask them to think about three characters they could transform into, inspired by their piece of fabric.

Siobhan tied a scarf like a headband to help her embody a kid, draped it over her head to represent an elder and wrapped it around her neck to look fancy.

Shirley from the New 42 Youth Corps transformed a towel into a superhero’s cape, a pageant winner’s sash and a snowman’s scarf!

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3. Have fun getting into character! Ask your kid these questions as they practice embodying each of their characters:

• What does this character sound like?
• What is this character’s favorite thing to do?
• How is this character feeling right now?
• How does this character sleep?
• What does it look like when this character is excited?
• What does it look like when this character is mad or sad?

Find your own costume piece and join in the fun! How many characters can your family create all together? Snap a photo or two and share them with us on Instagram.

Talk About It!

As you make your way to the theater, get your kid in the show mindset with some show-themed conversation starters! Ask them:

• Anton Dudley and Faye Chiao have been telling stories together for a long time. If you could pick someone to tell a story with, who would it be and how would you tell it?
• In our world today, what are some ways that nature communicates with us?
• What are some traits of a good witch? What about a bad witch?
• Have you ever lost someone or something that meant a lot to you? How can you celebrate the time you spent together?

The fun doesn’t have to stop here! Follow along with New Victory Teaching Artists in a few Arts Break videos and activities from the archive, highlighting puppetry, music and character work.

Craft a puppet of yourself and go on a tiny adventure with Renata Townsend.

Write and record a new song by sampling an old favorite with Jono Waldman.

Learn how to embody a character through careful research with Melle Phillips.