Arlekin’s “The Dybbuk” Possesses Hearts and Minds

November 13, 2025April 8, 2026 Charlotte SnowLeave a comment

‘The Dybbuk’ – Based on the play by S. Ansky. Written by Roy Chen. Additional Material by Joachim Neugroschel. Adapted by Igor Golyak and Dr. Rachel Marrill Moss. Directed and Scenic Design by Igor Golyak. Stage Management from Madison Perez. Lighting Design by Jeff Adlberg. Costume and Prop Design by Sasha Ageeva. Composition and Sound Design by Fedor Zhuravlev. Arlekin’s ‘The Dybbuk’ runs from October 30th – September 16th at The Vilna Shul.

By Charlotte Snow

What are we willing to risk for love? Perhaps it’s a job, a home, a previous relationship, or a lifestyle. Or, for the most ardent of lovers, perhaps we’re more than willing to risk our lives? In Arlekin’s The Dybbuk, a love story that spans the realm of the living and the dead, it uplifts and challenges the notion of ‘til death do us part.’

Arlekin, based in the suburbs of Needham, is a theatre company founded by immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who are driven to create and reimagine Russian theatre, with performances presented in English, Russian, or a combination of both. This production of ‘The Dybbuk’ is a remounting of the 2024 production, which garnered a pair of Elliot Norton awards. 

Arlekin Players’ Igor Golyak on Bringing Back ‘The Dybbuk’ for an Encore

October 29, 2025April 9, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Igor Golyak, the leader of Arlekin Players, is set to oversee the return of his adaptation of Roy Chen’s modern version of the classic S. Ansky play The Dybbuk to Boston. The play was a sensation last year, thrilling audiences and earning accolades, including an Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Production. Now it returns to Beacon Hill’s Vilna Shul, the site of its earlier run — a venue that, Golyak explains in our interview, has significant resonance.

Arlekin Players ‘Our Class’ Exposes the Danger of Erasing the Past and Repressing the Truth

June 19, 2025April 8, 2026 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of Arlekin Players’ ‘Our Class’. Photos by Irina Danilova

Arlekin Players presents Our Class. Written by Tadeusz Slobodzianek. Adapted by Norman Allen. Directed by Igor Golyak. Scenic Design by Jan Pappelbaum. Costume Design by Sasha Ageeva. Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg. Sound Design by Ben Williams. Projection and Video Design by Eric Dunlap, Igor Golyak with Andrea Mincic. Choreography by Or Schraiber. At Boston Center for the Arts, Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, through June 22nd.

By Linda Chin

With four 2024 Lucille Lortel Awards (Outstanding Revival, Director, Ensemble, Scenic Design) for its Off-Broadway premiere of Our Class in hand, Arlekin Players’ artistic director, Igor Golyak and producing director Sara Stackhouse have brought their production home to Greater Boston for audiences to “enjoy”. The play’s limited run at the BCA during June – Immigration Heritage Month – is timely given the 15-year-old Needham-based company’s history as an ensemble of immigrants from countries in the former Soviet Union. Written by Tadeusz Slobodzianek and adapted by Norman Allen, Our Class follows the stories of ten Polish classmates, half Jewish and half Catholic, who lived together in the small village of Jedwabne across eight decades of the 20th century.

‘Our Class’ Confronts And Challenges Revisionist History

June 19, 2025April 8, 2026 Shelley SackettLeave a comment

‘Our Class’ – Written by Tadeusz Słobodzianek. Adapted by Norman Allen. Directed by Igor Golyak. Staged by Arlekin at the Calderwood Pavilion at Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, through June 22.

By Shelley A. Sackett

No one can take his audience on an emotional and artistic roller coaster like Igor Golyak, founder and artistic director of Arlekin Players Theatre & Zero Gravity (Zero-G) Theater Lab. With “Our Class,” in production through June 23 at the Calderwood Pavilion, he introduces us to characters we initially relate to and bond with, spins an artistically ingenious cocoon, and then tells a tale that rips our heart to shreds and leaves us too overwhelmed to even speak.

Arlekin Players’ ‘Witness’ Unflinchingly Details the Jewish Experience

December 15, 2021April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Arlekin Players ‘Witness’ (virtual)

by Julie-Anne Whitney

‘Witness’– Written by Nana Grinstein with Igor Golyak and Blair Cadden; conceived and directed by Igor Golyak; scenography and costume design by Anna Fedorova; virtual design by Daniel Cormino; sound design by Victor Semenov; editing by Anton Nikolaev; cinematography by Austin de Besche; dramaturgy by Blair Cadden; stage managed by Kendyl Trott. This world premiere production runs at the (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab through January 23, 2022.

“Where do unwanted people go?” This is the question that Arlekin Players Theater is asking us to consider in their new virtual documentary theater piece, Witness.

Set on a ship that travels through time, Witness explores the seemingly endless migratory experiences of Jewish people throughout history. The source material for the script comes from historical letters, journals, and newspaper articles as well as recent interviews with immigrants and refugees from around the world. The story, written by Nana Grinstein, is inspired by the 1939 transatlantic voyage of the M.S. St. Louis. With over 900 Jewish refugees on board, the St. Louis was cruelly turned away from ports in Cuba, Canada, and the U.S., and ultimately forced to return to Europe. Of the more than 500 passengers who became trapped in Nazi-controlled countries, 254 of them were killed in concentration camps.

Arlekin Players’ ‘The Seagull’ is Extraordinary

November 11, 2019April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

L to R – Anne Gottlieb (Irina Arkadina), Darya Denisova (Masha), Eric Andrews (Semyon Medvedenko) in Arlekin Players Theatre new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’ – Photos by Irina Danilova

by Julie-Anne Whitney

‘The Seagull’ – Written by Anton Chekhov; Conceived and directed by Igor Golyak; Script translation by Ryan McKittrick, Julia Smeliansky, and Laurence Senelick; Scenic Design by Nikolay Simonov; Costume Design by Nastya Bugaeva; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg; Original Music by Jakov Jakoulov; Produced by the Arlekin Players Theatre at Studio 368 in Needham, MA through December 8, 2019.

As you walk up the stairs into Studio 368, the home of the Arlekin Players, and into the intimate black box theater, you feel a sense of uncertainty: the space is separated into three sections with two seating areas to choose from – one on the left and one on the right – with the performance space placed directly in the center of the room. There is a wooden arch with two black doors on either side and a large circle of sand in the middle of the floor. The space feels ominous- the only light emanating from the floor and from a few naked bulbs on the wall. You take a seat and you wait.