The Seagull

by Anton Chekhov

November 8 – December 15

Directors Notes

It is with great enthusiasm that I share with you an idea for the new adaptation and production of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull;” in which a cohesion of different cultures, languages and background 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, we are looking to answer our own struggles as artists and as people in the 21 st century. The alienation of people in the play we find very relevant today, where countries, just as people struggle to listen and hear, look and see and ultimately connect to find compassion.

Thank you very much for your support!

Artistic Director
Igor Golyak

Photos by Igor Klimov
www.naturalighted.com

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Photos by Irina Danilova
www.idealcapture.com

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Cast

Anne Gottlieb* – Irina Arkadina

Eliott Purcell* – Konstantin Treplev

Dev Luthra – Pyotr Sorin

Irina Bordian – Nina Zarechnaya

Alexander Petetsky – Ilya Shamraev

Darya Denisova – Masha Shamraev

Nael Nacer* –  Boris Trigorin

Igor Golyak – Yevgeny Dorn/Director/Yakov

Eric Andrews – Semyon Medvedenko

* signifies member of the Actors Equity Association

Design Team

Igor Golyak –  Director

Nikolay Simonov –  Scenic Designer

Nastya Bugaeva –  Costume Designer

Jeff Adelberg –  Lighting Designer

Jakov Jakoulov –  Composer

Production Team

Ben Lieberson –  Technical Director

Alla Trachtenberg –  Assistant Costumer

Madeline Hartrich –  Stage Manager/Supervising TD

Ilona Overweg –  Asst. Technical Director

Irina Vilenchik –  Props Master

Blair Cadden –  Dramaturg

Anna Furman –  Make-Up Designer

Natalia Mitlina –  Wardrobe

Madeline Hartrich –  Board Operator

Media Contact: Joanne Barrett/JBPR
jbpr@comcast.net 617-834-6021 @jebpr

ARLEKIN PLAYERS THEATRE CONTINUES 10th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
with ANTON CHEKHOV’S CLASSIC THE SEAGULL

NOVEMBER 8 – DECEMBER 15, 2019

“We learn about life not from the plusses alone,
but from the minuses as well…”
—Anton Chekhov

Arlekin Players Theatre presents Anton Chekhov’s tragic comedy The Seagull, featuring members of the Arlekin company performing alongside four of Boston’s favorite professional actors Anne Gottlieb** (Irina Arkadina), Dev Luthra (Pyotr Sorin), Nael Nacer** (Boris Trigorin), and Eliott Purcell** (Konstantin Treplev), in a newly adapted version of the play conceived and directed by Igor Golyak. The new script translation is by Ryan McKittrick and Julia Smeliansky with Chekhov’s letters used in the script translated by Laurence Senelick. Performances will take place Fridays-Sundays, November 8 – December 15, 2019 (*see below*) at Arlekin Players Theatre in Needham. Tickets, $45 – $65. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit arlekinplayers.com or call (617) 942-0022. Arlekin will also offer unique pre-show and post-show talks for interested groups.

“Through this production, Arlekin seeks to bridge the world of Chekhov to today’s contemporary theatre scene, exploring how the timeless work speaks to artists of all cultures, says Artistic Director Igor Golyak. “By mixing different languages, and delving into Chekhov’s world through his journals, letters and the play itself, we seek answers to our own struggles as artists, and as people in the 21st century. Through the examination of this cohesion and collision of different cultures, languages, and backgrounds, Arlekin seeks to create dialogue around human understanding and compassion.”

According to Golyak, “While the play thematically revolves around the dominant idea of art and theater, ever-expanding voids grow between the characters, ultimately leading to the suicide of an artist. The Arlekin production explores that conflicted nature in artists — the longing to realize oneself and stand up against the deadening of the arts, of people, and of life — often existing at the expense of lasting relationships, loved ones, and even one’s very existence. Yet, it leads to the creation of an enduring work of art, whose beauty the artist discovered through his sacrifice, that heals and unites people.”

The creative team features Nikolay Simonov (scenographer), Nastya Bugaeva (costume design), Jeff Adelberg (lighting design), Jakov Jakoulov (original score) and a nine-member cast including Anne Gottlieb** (Irina Arkadina), Eliott Purcell** (Konstantin Treplev), Dev Luthra (Pyotr Sorin), Irina Bordian (Nina Zarechnaya), Alexander Petetsky (Ilya Shamraev, Darya Denisova (Masha Shamraev), Nael Nacer** (Boris Trigorin), Igor Golyak (Yevgeny Dorn/Yakov) and Eric Andrews (Semyon Medvedenko). Dramaturgy by Blair Cadden.

** signifies member of the Actors Equity Association

Arlekin Players Theatre was created in Boston in 2009 and has since toured to New York, Chicago, and Hartford, as well as to several international festivals. Arlekin takes strong pride in their emphasis on self-identity; they are a company of immigrants performing works that play on the ideas of cross-culture, home, and traditions, challenging the idea of nationality, and finding common themes that unite us all. The company makes its home in Needham, MA. For more information, visit www.arlekinplayers.com.

This production is sponsored by Webster Bank, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and The Boston Foundation.

THE BEST PRODUCTIONS OF 2019

THE CHAOS OF DREAMS AND IMAGES: ARLEKIN’S THE SEAGULL IS REMARKABLE

Arlekin Players’ ‘The Seagull’ is Extraordinary

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Don Aucoin’s Top 10 in Boston-area theater in 2019 – Boston Globe

12 Plays And Musicals That Mattered In Boston This Year – WBUR

Theater Review: “The Seagull” — An Exceptional Staging of a Legendary Play – The Arts Fuse

Arlekin’s reimagined ‘Seagull’ speaks to us anew – Rich Fahey’s On Boston Stages

The Arlekin Pleyers play Chekhov’s The Seagull – ArtScope Magazine

Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’ flies high, with a Jewish twist – Jewish Journal

* Signifies Actor’s Equity Assosciation Member

Dev Luthra trained at East 15 Acting School, London, England and at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA.  Acting credits include Antigonus, Old Shepherd, Bottom/The Winter’s Tale and Midsummer Night’s Dream at Bay Colony Shakespeare Company, Father/Brilliant Adventures and Azdak/Caucasian Chalk Circle (Apollinaire Theatre Company), Mr. Biedermann/Firebugs (Huellas Vivas), Orsino/Twelfth Night (Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival) Northumberland/Henry IV, parts 1 & 2 (Actors Shakespeare Project), M. le Comte/N. Bonaparte (Pilgrim Theatre), Leonato/Much Ado About Nothing (Public Theatre) Worcester/1 Henry IV (Palace Theatre).  Dev directs and teaches for Shakespeare Now! Theatre Company, and for Grumbling Gryphons Children’s Theatre, touring throughout the Northeast. He has taught acting and movement at Boston College and Emerson College and currently at Boston University’s Prison Education Program. Dev is the Artistic Director of And Still We Rise Productions, a theatre company committed to the advocacy of the rights of people impacted by the prison system. He is a contributing author to The Heart and Soul of Psychotherapy, S. Linden, ed. Macbeth’s Children, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, co-written with Michael Bettencourt, won an AATE New Play award. Dev also works as a presentation skills and presence coach in the corporate sector. Of Anglo-Indian parentage, he has lived and worked in the Northeast since 1978.

Nael Nacer* (Trigorin) was recently seen at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Tiny Beautiful Things. Area credits include: Romeo and Juliet; A Doll’s House; Bedroom Farce; Come Back, Little Sheba; Awake and Sing!; The Seagull; Our Town (Huntington Theatre), The Return (Israeli Stage), Small Mouth Sounds; A Future Perfect; Tribes (SpeakEasy Stage), Macbeth; Equivocation (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), True West; Bank Job; The Flick (Gloucester Stage), Calendar Girls (Greater Boston Stage Company), Constellations; Sila; Distracted (Central Square Theatre), Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play; Intimate Apparel; Animal Crackers (Lyric Stage), 45 Plays for 45 Presidents; It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Merrimack Rep), A Number; Lungs; The Kite Runner; Pattern of Life (New Repertory Theatre), Rhinoceros; Windowmen (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre), and Shear Madness (Charles Playhouse). Nael was born and raised in Paris, France and currently resides in Brookline, MA. He is the recipient of Elliot Norton and IRNE awards for his work, and is a resident acting company member of Actors’ Shakespeare Project, as well as a monologue coach with My College Audition.

ANNE GOTTLIEB* is thrilled to work with Arlekin. She first fell in love with Russian and Polish theatre and specifically Michael Chekhov training when she traveled to St. Petersburg in college and returned to Moscow to perform in a student festival. Recent Stage credits include, The Little Foxes, Lyric Stage, Broken Glass and Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, The New Rep (IRNE & Elliot Norton Award) The Women, Other Desert Cities, In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play, (Elliot Norton Award) all with Scott Edmiston at Speakeasy Stage Co. Absence with Joanna Merlin at Boston Playwrights theatre. Not Enough Air, Crave, Betrayal (IRNE award) with the Nora Theatre Company.  She is the co-creator of The Wrestling Patient based on the letters and diaries of Etty Hillesum which she co-produced with Speakeasy Stage Company and Boston Playwrights Theatre. Anne is currently developing a new play with director Uli Meyer- Horsch in Hamburg about how war and love live across generations long after the event. She is the founder of the newly formed Talk to Strangers Community Initiative, teaches presence work internationally and is an ongoing student and teacher of the Michael Chekhov work. For Gabriel Kuttner, in honor of his brilliance and humor.