Zvart Apelian

Group Recitations and Live Enactments Zvart Apelian

Throughout her teaching career that spanned five decades, Zvart Apelian (born 1924) directed group recitations and staged live presentations at Armenian schools in the Middle East and USA. The terms as such do not convey the sentiments their Armenian terms, Khmpayin Asmounk and Gentany Badger, respectively do. The former is a responsive recitation over a theme where soloists recite followed by the group responding or affirming in unison to what the person recited. The latter - Gentany Badger - is a live reenactment and thus the performers are attired accordingly and voice from a prepared text around a theme. Both are cherished traditions in Armenian schools although they seem to be dying nowadays.

Staging group recitation and live enactment celebrating or commemorating an important Armenian historical date, cemented the sentimental bonds between the school and the community. It also became an avenue to delight the parents seeing their sons and daughters on the stage. They served a pedagogical purpose as well, helping train students express themselves publicly.

Group recitation and live enactment texts have not been collected in books. After Zvart retired from teaching she made her mission to record the texts of the group recitations and live reenactments she had had taught her students and presented on stage. Their texts filled hundreds of hand written pages. She had them arranged in several volumes. Each volume is titled after a theme. This book is a reproduction of two of these volumes. One is titled "Group Recitations" (Khmpayin Asmounkner). The other is titled "Immortal Vartanank" (Anmahn Vartanak).

This book is meant to retain a glimpse of the art she practiced throughout her teaching career and to preserve her meticulous handwriting.