Ukrainian Dinner & Performance: "New Calypso"

“New Calypso” by poet Olena Boryshpolets with Christopher Rivas & Lesya Verba

Thursday, October 23, 2025
5:30–7:00 p.m.
Rachel Mellon Walton Room, Posner Hall A Level
Carnegie Mellon University

Dinner to be served: Pierogies, haluski and other Eastern European delicacies

In this fresh and vibrant performance, you will embark on a journey through a poem echoing Homer’s “Odyssey” and passing through the modern Ukrainian city of Odesa to the farthest corners of the earth.

Through the poetic tradition of rhyming comes a tale navigating wars, the hypocrisy of politicians, and the destruction of the world by dictators. Traversing a land haunted by a burning sea and a sky filled with missiles and drones, a new, modern heroine, New Calypso, makes her way. Just an ordinary woman to the untrained eye, her power lies in her persistence of self, conducting her dialogue with the universe and the reality of today with an unshaking belief in the power of love. 

“New Calypso’s” story comes to life in this musical theater performance, featuring Olena Boryshpolets as both author and actor, actor Chris Rivas, and bandura musician Lesya Verba. The performance will feature a folk song in the native language of Pittsburgh native Andy Warhol’s mother, Lemko Yulia Warhol.

Register for the dinner & performance
Learn more about "New Calypso" and the artists

Co-sponsored by Center for the Arts in Society, the Department of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics and Pittsburgh City of Asylum.