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The Orchard Off Broadway
Arlekin Players Theatre | Zero Gravity (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab
May–July 2022
The Orchard is a hybrid piece of theater and can be seen in two formats:
Live and In Person at Baryshnikov Arts Center (New York, NY)
OR
Virtual Experience Online, accessible worldwide
Conceived, adapted and directed by Igor Golyak
Based on The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov,
as translated by Carol Rocamora
With new material by Igor Golyak
Featuring Jessica Hecht as Ranevskaya
With Juliet Brett, Darya Denisova, Elisa Kibler, John McGinty,
Nael Nacer, Mark Nelson and Ilia Volok
And Mikhail Baryshnikov as Anton Chekhov and Firs
Executive Producer: Sara Stackhouse
Produced by Arlekin Players Theatre and (zero-G) Lab
In association with Cherry Orchard Festival, Groundswell Theatricals and ShowOne Productions
***
The Orchard invites us into the fragile world of a family yearning for connection and struggling with the end of their world as they know it. Threatened with foreclosure and the loss of their beloved orchard, they face unstoppable, destructive forces that dismantle their lives like the breaking of a string.
RECENT PROJECTS
chekhovOS
an experimental game
Based on The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
Conceived & Directed by Igor Golyak
Featuring Jessica Hecht as Ranevskaya and Mikhail Baryshnikov as Anton Chekhov
Virtual Set & Environment Designer: Anna Fedorova
Game Engine & Interaction Design: Will Brierly, Snowrunner Productions
Virtual Performance Technical Director: Vladimir Gusev
Music composition by Jakov Jakoulov
Produced by Igor Golyak & Sara Stackhouse
Platform: The Soft Layer by Snowrunner Productions
***
chekhovOS fused film, theater and video game technology to create a new medium where viewers are able to interact directly with the performers. Inspired by Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and drawing from recordings of Chekhov’s letters and dreams, this interactive online theater experience accesses the operating system behind both Chekhov’s computer and the world in which his characters live, searching for happiness.
Arlekin Players Theatre
Zero Gravity (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab
May–June 2021
Virtual | Online
Awards:
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Broadway World Regional Award: Best Director of a Streamed Production
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2022 Elliot Norton Special Citation for ‘Pioneering work in Online Theater’
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Twi NY Pandemic Award
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Best Theater of 2021, Don Aucoin, The Boston Globe
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Best Theater of 2021, Jules Becker, The Jewish Journal
State vs. Natasha Banina
Arlekin Players Theatre
Zero Gravity (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab
June–July 2020
Virtual | Online
Awards:
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New York Times Critic’s Pick
-
London Fringe Festivals “OFFies Award” Nominee
Based on Natasha’s Dream by Yaroslava Pulinovich
Adapted & Directed by Igor Golyak
Translated by John Freedman
Starring Darya Denisova as Natasha
Production Associate: Marianna Golyak
Animator: Anton Iakhontov
Music Composer: Vadim Khrapatchev
Produced by Igor Golyak & Sara Stackhouse
***
Rehearsed and live streamed in Igor’s living room during quarantine, this piece was created as a new form to overcome social distancing and the pandemic, ultimately uniting people in one virtual space by merging theater, cinematography and video games.
In State vs Natasha Banina, a teenage girl tells the story of her life in a small-town orphanage and her desire to be free, to break out of her world. From the inside of a Zoom courtroom, she makes twists and turns through her unique appeal to audiences as the jurors, letting them into her world where she dreams about love, family, acceptance, adjusting and her future. Ultimately the two worlds collide, and the audience must decide her fate.
The Seagull
By Anton Chekhov
Directed by Igor Golyak
Scenic Design by Nikolay Simonov
Costume Design by Nastya Bugaeva
Lighting Desing by Jeff Adelberg
Music Composition by Jakov Jakoulov
***
This new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull brought together different cultures, languages and backgrounds to reach new grounds in human understanding and compassion. While the main themes of the play revolve around art and theater, there is an incredible void that is ever growing between characters, that ultimately ends with a suicide of an artist.
It is an exploration of the nature of an artist, the longing to realize oneself, stand up against the deadening of the arts, of people, and of life. While sometimes at the expense of relationships and loved ones, an incredible beauty is discovered by said artist that heals and unites people.
By mixing different languages, and going deep into exploring Chekhov’s world of creation through his journals, letters and the play itself, this production looked to answer our own struggles as artists and as people in the 21st century. The alienation of people in the play was found to be very relevant today, where countries–just like people–struggle to listen and hear, look and see, and ultimately connect to find compassion.
Arlekin Players Theatre
November–December 2019
In-Person
Awards:
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2020 Elliot Norton Award Nominee: Outstanding Production
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2020 Elliot Norton Award Nominee: Outstanding Direction
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2020 Elliot Norton Award Nominee: Outstanding Ensemble
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2020 Elliot Norton Award Winner: Outstanding Design
The Stone
Arlekin Players Theatre
September 2019
In-person
Awards:
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2020 Eliot Norton Award Winner: Outstanding Production
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2020 Eliot Norton Award Winner: Outstanding Direction
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2020 Elliot Norton Award Nominee: Outstanding Ensemble
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2020 Elliot Norton Award Nominee: Outstanding Design
By Marius von Mayenburg
Directed by Igor Golyak
Scenic Design by David R. Gammons
Costume Design by Nastya Bugaeva
Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg
Music Composition by Jakov Jakoulov
***
In 1935, a young couple purchases a house from a Jewish family in Dresden, Germany. The play follows the lives of the house’s residents, who must grapple with their own identity while experiencing the reverberations created by 60 years of German history. As a house passes from owner to owner, and from generation to generation, the secrets buried in the garden and seeping from the walls reveal themselves.
WITNESS
Written by Nana Grinstein
with Blair Cadden & Igor Golyak
Conceived and directed by Igor Golyak
Scenography & Costume Design by Anna Fedorova
Virtual Design by Daniel Cormino
Sound Design by Viktor Semenov
Director of Photography/Editor: Anton Nikolaev
Produced by Sara Stackhouse
Featuring the Arlekin Acting Company
***
WITNESS is a new documentary theater piece about Jewish immigration in the face of antisemitism. WITNESS brings actors and audience together from around the world for a shared immersive experience set on a boat in digital space. The piece is inspired by the journey of the MS St. Louis, which left Hamburg in 1939 with over 900 Jewish people on board and headed to Cuba only to be turned away, leaving the passengers stranded with nowhere to go and no escape. WITNESS shares stories of Jewish immigrants from around the globe through an interactive virtual theater experience at the nexus of film, theater and video games.
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Arlekin Players Theatre
Zero Gravity (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab
December 2021– January 2022
Virtual | Online
Awards:
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Boston Globe Critic’s Pick
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This Week in New York Pandemic Award Winner: Best Immersive Historical Drama
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Best Theater of 2021, Jules Becker, Jewish Journal
The Merchant of Venice
Actors’ Shakespeare Project
September–October 2021
In-person
Awards:
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Best Theater of 2021, Don Aucoin, The Boston Globe
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Best Theater of 2021, Ed Seigel, WBUR
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Best Theater of 2021, Jules Becker, The Jewish Journal
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Igor Golyak
***
Exploring themes of prejudice, mercy, compassion, revenge, and humanity/inhumanity, this production of The Merchant of Venice set the story in the present moment. Bassanio, a Venetian lord whose pockets are currently empty, needs a loan to travel to the island of Belmont and pursue Portia, a rich heiress. His dear friend Antonio, a wealthy nobleman of Venice, agrees to give him a loan and, in turn, borrows the money from a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Shylock, who has resented Antonio for many years, locks him into a legal bond that will threaten his life if not fulfilled. The duality of Venice’s Carnivale – its lush, irreverent playfulness alongside its hidden underbelly of subversiveness – sets the stage for this drama to unfold, asking how much we have truly evolved in our empathy for those we think of as the “other.”