Arlekin Players Announces 2023-2024 Season (Cambridge, MA.)
Arlekin Players
Announces
2023-2024 Season
Arlekin Players Theatre, the award-winning, artist-driven theater company helmed by Ukrainian-born artistic director Igor Golyak, announces its 2023-2024 Season which includes:
"JUST TELL NO ONE" - A compilation of three plays by female Ukrainian playwrights
Performances: October 6, 2023 through October 14, 2023
Arlekin Players Theatre, 368 Hillside Ave, Needham, MA.
"OUR CLASS" - Written by Polish playwright Tadeusz Slobodzianek
Performances: January 12, 2024 through February 4, 2024
BAM Fisher Fishman Space, 321 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, N.Y.
"THE DYBBUK" - Adapted by Roy Chen, inspired by the play by S. Ansky
Performances: June 14, 2024 through June 30, 2024
Maso Studio at the Huntington Theatre, Boston, MA.
COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
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Featuring the New York premiere of Tadeusz Slobodzianek’s Polish masterpiece "OUR CLASS", as adapted by Norman Allen, directed by Golyak, designed by Jan Pappelbaum of the Schaubuehne, and performing in a limited run at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Fisher, January 12-February 4, 2024.
The season also includes the US premiere of the English version of "THE DYBBUK," newly adapted by Roy Chen and inspired by the play by S. Ansky, performing at the Maso Studio at the Huntington Theatre, Boston, June 14-30, 2024.
Arlekin continues the innovations and experiments of its (zero-G) Virtual Theatre Lab with interactive online streaming presentations of it’s critically acclaimed virtual productions "THE GAAGA," written and directed by Ukrainian playwright Sasha Denisova (virtual production directed by Golyak), and the award-winning "WITNESS," written by Nana Grinstein, conceived and directed by Golyak during the pandemic.
Arlekin will launch the season with a set of intimate fundraising salons held at the Arlekin Studio in Needham in October 2023, featuring their multimedia staged reading of "JUST TELL NO ONE" by Natal’ya Vorozhbit & Oksana Savchenko, translated by Sasha Dugsdale, John Freedman and Natalia Bratus, in a continuation of their partnership with Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings, an initiative of the Center for International Theatre Development (CITD).
ABOUT "JUST TELL NO ONE"
"JUST TELL NO ONE" is a composition Golyak put together using excerpts from three plays by female Ukrainian playwrights:
- "BAD ROADS" by Natal’ya Vorozhbit, translated by Sasha Dugsdale
- "THREE RENDEZVOUS" by Natal’ya Vorozhbit, translated by John Freedman with Natalia Bratus
and
- "JUST TELL NO ONE" from the full-length play "NIGHT DEVOURS MORNING" by Oksana Savchenko, translated by John Freedman.
"JUST TELL NO ONE" was first presented by Lincoln Center in March 2023 in a site-specific, multimedia staged reading that featured Jessica Hecht, Bill Irwin and David Krumholz.
It was then shared for one performance in the Maso Studio at the Huntington Theatre.
Arlekin now presents a new iteration of the piece in a series of intimate fundraising salons in their studio in Needham, MA. for six performances only.
The events this October will feature members of the Arlekin resident acting company, guests Daniel Boudreau and Lucas Boniface, along with Boston favorites Anne Gottlieb, Benjamin Evett and Robert Walsh.
The scenic elements were designed by visual dramaturg Irina Kruzhilina of New York with video effects design by Eric Dunlap of Berlin.
This project is one of hundreds of readings happening around the globe as part of Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings, through the Center of Theater Development (CITD) HOPE Initiative, spearheaded by John Freedman and Philip Arnoult.
The piece elevates vital Ukrainian artistic voices and powerfully shares the human consequences of war.
Arlekin Fall Fundraising Salons
SITE-SPECIFIC, MULTIMEDIA STAGED READINGS
By Natal’ya Vorozhbit & Oksana Savchenko
Translated by Sasha Dugsdale, John Freedman and Natalia Bratus
Directed by Igor Golyak
Visual Dramaturgy by Irina Kruzhilina
Video & Effects Design by Eric Dunlap
Sound Bed Design by Eric D Clark Properties, Irina Vilenchik with Julia Shikh
Produced by Sara Stackhouse
Cast Includes: Lucas Boniface, Irina Bordian, Daniel Boudreau, Polina Dubovikova, Benjamin Evett, Rimma Gluzman, Anne Gottlieb, Alexander Petetsky, Gennadiy Ravvin, Julia Shikh & Robert Walsh
SIX SALONS ONLY
Performances:
October 6, 2023 through October 14, 2023
Arlekin Players Theatre, 368 Hillside Ave, Needham, MA
Very Limited Seating
Requested Donation $55
In partnership with Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings, part of CITD’s HOPE Initiative
"JUST TELL NO ONE" CONTAINS MATERIAL FOR ADULT AUDIENCES INCLUDING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT LANGUAGE, VIOLENT LANGUAGE & GRAPHIC IMAGES. DISCRETION REQUIRED | RECOMMENDED ONLY FOR AGES 16+
ABOUT "OUR CLASS"
"OUR CLASS" by Polish playwright Tadeusz Slobodzianek, received the 2010 NIKE Literary Prize and has had productions throughout the world since its premier at the National Theater in London in 2009.
Arlekin is partnering with MART Foundation to co-produce the New York premiere at BAM Fisher, Fishman Space.
The play follows ten Polish classmates, five Jewish and five Catholic, growing up as playful friends and neighbors, who then turn on one another with life and death consequences.
Inspired by real life events surrounding a horrific 1941 pogrom in the small village of Jedwabne, this shocking tale follows their lives from childhood through eight decades of upheaval in an electric new production.
This production, directed by Golyak, was adapted by Norman Allen, with scenic design by renowned designer Jan Pappelbaum of the Schaubheune, music by Oscar winner Anna Drubich, projections design by Eric Dunlap, and is being executive produced by MART’s Sofia Kapkova and Arlekin’s Sara Stackhouse.
"OUR CLASS"
Written by Tadeusz Slobodzianek as adapted by Norman Allen Directed by Igor Golyak
Scenic Design by Jan Pappelbaum
Composed by Anna Drubich
Projection Design by Eric Dunlap
Production Stage Manager, Kyra Bowie
Executive Producers, Sofia Kapkova & Sara Stackhouse
Performances:
January 12, 2024 through February 4, 2024
BAM Fisher Fishman Space, 321 Ashland Place, Brooklyn, NY
Tickets from $59-$129
General Public Tickets on Sale September 13
ABOUT "THE DYBBUK"
An Ancient Mystical Tale
Adapted by Roy Chen, inspired by the play by S. Ansky
Directed by Igor Golyak
Featuring the Arlekin Resident Acting Company & Guests
Produced by Sara Stackhouse
Performances:
June 14, 2024 through June 30, 2024
Maso Studio, Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT ARLEKIN PLAYERS
ARLEKIN PLAYERS is a theater of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, committed to lifting up the talented playwrights and theater-makers of Ukraine and amplifying their voices during this time of war.
Mailing Address:
ARLEKIN PLAYERS
368 Hillside Avenue
Needham, MA 02494
(617) 942-0022
