Arlekin Players Theatre, founded by Artistic Director Igor Golyak in 2009, is an artist­-driven company created with and for immigrant actors from the former Soviet Union. For over a decade, we have told powerful stories and invented new forms of theater in both Russian and English, working to build vital connections and create shared human experience. We take special pride in exploring questions of self-identity and working on productions that play on the ideas of culture, identity, home, tradition, the idea of nationality, finding common themes that unite us all.

During our first ten years, Arlekin was invited numerous times to perform on the world-famous stage of the Moscow Art Theatre and at international festivals including the prestigious Mondial du Théâtre in Monaco. During our 10th Anniversary Season, we received a sweep of Boston’s Elliot Norton Awards, including Best Production, Best Designer, Best Actress and Best Director, with a ceremony watched on Zoom due to the sudden closures of COVID. During the pandemic, while mosts theaters worldwide were shuttered, we wasted no time in transforming our small theater into the Zero Gravity (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab, developing a new genre and producing two international virtual theater productions, State vs Natasha Banina and chekhovOS /an experimental game/, which featured Obie winner Jessica Hecht as Ranevskaya and Mikhail Baryshnikov as Anton Chekhov. These productions went viral, catapulting Arlekin onto the international stage, receiving international attention (with audiences in over 40 countries) and receiving rave press, including two New York Times Critic’s Picks. This work has positioned Arlekin and our founder, Igor Golyak, as innovators and international leaders in the virtual theater movement. 

We remain committed to connecting in new ways, creating meaningful, groundbreaking artistic productions, and continually reinventing what theater is for our community in Boston and for an increasing audience across the globe.

Mission Statement

Arlekin Players Theatre is a company of immigrants, rooted in traditions of classical and contemporary Russian theater. We are dedicated to passionate, imaginative storytelling and new forms of theater, performed in English and Russian. We seek to build connections and create shared human experience across cultures by creating powerful in person and virtual theater productions that affect and challenge diverse audiences, with a special commitment to the Russian-language community.