In the last two years, Brookline native Igor Golyak and his wife went from sales jobs and soul-searching to creating a business that teaches children and adults how to act and perform on stage.

When Golyak and his wife, Alana, moved back to the United States from Russia in 2004, they weren’t sure how to apply Golyak’s professional teaching and directing degree from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts in Moscow to American culture.

“We were trying to find ourselves in this country,” said Golyak. “We were thinking of what we could do.”

In 2008, when the couple threw a birthday party for their daughter, Golyak’s wife put together an improvisation-style play for the other children at the celebration.

“The parents of the kids at the party were impressed by the production,” said Golyak, a Baker School and Brookline High School graduate.

“They said, ‘Start some sort of theater group and we will gladly give you our children so you can teach them something,’” he said. “We started from three children and now we have close to 100 students.”

From there, Golyak found that an older crowd had the same interest in his family’s talent for the performing arts.

“They kept asking me about Russian theater and how it is different, and just showing them, and they kept asking, ‘Why don’t you teach us?’” said Golyak.

Just one year after his wife began teaching children, inspired by his friends’ enthusiasm for Russian-style theater, Golyak began the Arlekin Studio in Newton, teaching adults “in a very real way” how he was taught in a professional conservatory.

From his teachings hatched the Arlekin Players, a group of actors and actresses that travel the country performing adaptations of Russian plays and compete in international and national performance competitions.

“It’s very unusual that a performance in a foreign language could be so interesting for Americans,” said Eduard Snitkovsky, one of Golyak’s students who performs in the competitions. “People accept our performance very warmly. I would say it has been a success.”

Snitkovsky started as a student at Golyak’s studio, and later became a member of the Arlekin Players group.

“It takes a lot of time, but it is very interesting,” he said. “Igor is very creative. The final decision is definitely his, but we can make suggestions and show how we would like to do this. He is so happy when he likes that we suggested.”

In March, the group took home seven awards at the Regional Theatre Festival for American Association of Community Theatres after performing The Bear by Anton Chekhov.

The play is performed in Russian, said Snitkovsky.

The Arlekin Players will now move on to the national competition this summer in Rochester, N.Y., representing their region.

“I have looked at the history of theaters going to Nationals,” said Golyak. “They have been in business for a long time, and here we are, brand new, playing a show in some strange language with some strange author, and we have been winning the whole thing.”

The group’s recognition for their Russian-style acting began in June 2010, when a festival contacted Golyak personally.

“They had never had a non-English performance at the Massachusetts State Theatre Festival,” he said. “That was the birth of the theater group.”

After that summer, the group attended another festival in Connecticut, and shortly after they were invited to Ukraine to perform in a festival known as The Golden Lion.

“It’s a very prestigious European festival,” said Golyak.

At each event, the Arlekin group brought home awards, he said.

But constant travel and teaching hasn’t kept Golyak and his team from performing locally.

Already they have had sold out shows at Newton’s Turtle Lane Theatre, and will perform another show later this summer to raise funds for their traveling expenses for the Nationals competition.

“Either we fail or we strive. This is the oldest and biggest American theatre festival. We either have to be unbelievable or we are nowhere,” said Golyak. “All we can do is perform.”

 

Awards won at the New England Regional Theatre Festival

Best Production Award – “The Bear”

Best Director Award – Igor Golyak

Best Actress Award – Alana Kumalagova

Best Actor Award – Gene Ravvin

Best Ensemble – Arlekin Players

Best Adaptation – Arlekin Players

 

Author: Steve Annear (sannear@wickedlocal.com)
Published by: Brookline WickedLocal