RYBA-KIT
A MUSICAL FOLKTALE
Book & Lyrics by Nadiya Atkinson | Music & Lyrics by Sammy Grob
ABOUT
RYBA-KIT follows Valya and Anya, two ordinary kids from a quiet town where life revolves around birch-bark boats and neighborhood mischief. Everything changes when a wolf arrives with a warning. Soon come torrential rains, empty fishing nets, and earthquakes, and as the adults’ scramble to assign blame, the girls find themselves at the center of a story larger than they ever imagined.Blending multilingual storytelling with puppetry, folk music, and song, RYBA-KIT invites audiences into a fantastical world where ancestral myths are not just folklore, but a lifeline. The piece calls on us to listen closely before the future is washed away.
CREATIVE TEAM
NADIYA ATKINSON (Book & Lyrics) (she/hers) is a director, playwright, and visual artist. Circus and craft inspired, she works in the intersections of mediums and has created work at the Connelly, HERE Arts Center, 59E59, Theatre Row, Williams College, the Bechdel Project, the Chain, Artshack Brooklyn, and the Edinburgh Fringe. She’s been in residence with Complicité, the Guapamacátaro Center for Art and Ecology, Directors Lab North, and Mi-LAB Echizen. Nadiya is a founding member of Fishmarket Theatre Co. where she directs physical theatre works based in embodied dramaturgy and multidisciplinary collaboration. She holds a B.A. in Theatre with Honors from Williams College and a diploma from Ecole internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq. nadiyaatkinson.comSAMMY GROB (Music & Lyrics) (he/him) is a composer, music director, and arts educator. His work has been performed by Irish Repertory Theatre, Actionplay, Brooklyn Children’s Theater, and Emerging Artists Theatre. He has music directed shows at American University, George Mason University, George Washington University, NYU, and Berkeley Carroll School. He has served as a conductor with the National Children's Chorus and the 18th Street Singers. As a teaching artist, Sammy has taught students of all ages at a variety of organizations, including: Young Artists of America, CO/LAB, Brooklyn Acting Lab, Brooklyn Music School, Berkeley Carroll School, and New York City Center. He recently published a chapter on Disney musicals, critical theory, and K-12 education in the Oxford Handbook of the Disney Musical (2025) with Stacy Wolf. He studied Psychology and Education at Yale University, and is pursuing an M.M. in Music Education at Northwestern University.RAVEN HAOJING ZHAN (Puppetry Design & Scenography) is an international designer from the PRC. Their work has been featured off-Broadway and she’s worked in properties, scenic, and lighting design for various companies including Williamstown Theatre Festival and dots design collective. Raven’s been a performer and assistant manager for the Hong Yan Zhuang Inheritance Center of Puppetry since 2017. Past design credits include: Буря (‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance), Insertion (Connelly Theatre), CRINGE (59E59, Edinburgh Fringe), and The Misanthrope (HERE Arts Center). Raven graduated from Williams College and is pursuing a M.A. in Lighting Design from Yale. www.ravenzhan.com
Left to Right: Sammy, Nadiya, and Raven.
DEMOS
1. Lovely Little Story
4. Harvest
8. It Could Be
DEVELOPMENT HISTORY
2026
The Puffin Foundation Grantee
Pipeline Arts Foundation Finalist
O’Neill NMTC Semifinalist
Workshop, LaGuardia Performing Art Center’s Rough Draft Festival
2025
Received a New York Council for the Arts Theater Artist Commission
Developmental reading, ART/NYC & Fishmarket Theatre Co.
Photos of puppets along with RYBA-KITS workshop production at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center.
RYBA-KIT: A Musical Folktale is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.We'd like to thank The Puffin Foundation for their support of this project.