Photo courtesy of Mika Shevchenko-Masnyj
Maria Shevchenko-Masnyj ’16, known to her friends as Mika, is one of the most compelling and talented artists in our very own little theatrical world. With her fierce personality and ability to interpret a wide range of characters, Shevchenko-Masnyj has contributed to our school through the performing arts and her beaming disposition.
Now a senior, she was accepted into the Arts Concentration Program her freshman year. Since her arrival at Choate, she has been a part of several main-stage shows such as The Mad Woman of Shaiho, Tartuffe, Alice In Wonderland, and Pentecost, and has also assumed roles on smaller productions, such as the annual Fringe Festival and Student Directed Scenes.
However, she explained, “The roles that I played during freshman and sophomore years were small ensemble parts. Both characters really taught me to be a part of an ensemble and how to develop a presence on stage and be engaged even without having a lot of lines.”
Nevertheless, she connected deeply with the character the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland , but found her true calling in Petecost’s Jedlicova. “I think Jedlicova resonated with me a lot because the entire show was stationed around Bulgaria after the fall of the Soviet Union. Because of her background, I really identified with her, and my Ukrainian heritage also adds to this,” she said.
Ms. Tracy Ginder-Delventhal, Shevchenko-Masnyj’s mentor in the Arts Concentration Program, has pushed her student to challenge herself on stage. “I told her that the scope of character that she had played in the past has not been as large as I think it could be, and she really took that to heart,” Ms. Ginder -Delventhal said. “When she created her one-person play, she really pushed herself and took a huge risk. She’s on that trajectory where she’s making all of these realizations from all these individual experiences and she’s bringing this into her theater artist.” Shevchenko-Masnyj added, “During my one person play, I was able to play different characters, stretch myself into those characters, and be out there, outrageous and wacky and not caring. That was very liberating.”
Shevchenko-Masnyj has a strong, yet compassionate and optimistic personality. Ms. Ginder-Delventhal said, “Everybody loves her. She’s consistently positive, even though we all have good days and bad days, and if Mika’s having a difficult time, she does not bring that into the theater with her. It’s especially lovely to have someone like her because she understands that sometimes people’s bravado is about them really feeling awful. A lot of people can’t see beyond the bravado, but she does.”
