Mikhail Bulgakov's DEAD MAN'S DIARY: A Theatrical Novel Comes to Life on Stage 5/12- 6/4

Arlekin Players Theatre presents a stage version of Mikhail Bulgakov's unfinished novel Dead Man's Diary: A Theatrical Novel, a memoir that focuses on the author's inexplicable, mysterious, and comical love of the world of theatre. Performances run from May 12 thru June 4 at Arlekin Players' home at 368 Hillside Avenue in Needham. Performances are in Russian with audio-translation in English.

Dead Man's Diary is based on Bulgakov's own experiences at the famous Moscow Art Theatre of the 1920s and 30s, and reaches its comic height in a merciless lampooning of Konstantin Stanislavsky's fashionable stage techniques. Full of affectionately drawn characters, it is a brilliant, absurdist tale of the exhilaration and black desperation wrought on one man by his turbulent love affair with the theatre. The play centers on a writer who fails to sell his novel, then fails when he attempts to commit suicide. When the writer's play is taken up for production in a theater, literary success beckons, but he is not prepared to reckon with the grotesquely inflated egos of the actors, directors, and theatre managers.

Directed by Igor Golyak, Dead Man's Diary: A Theatrical Novel's original stage composition is written by Golyak and Zhenya Brodskaya. The show features choreography by Victor Plotnikov, a stage design by Nikolay Simonov, an original score by Jakov Jakoulov, and a 15-member cast.

Dead Man's Diary: A Theatrical Novel runs May 12 thru June 4 at 368 Hillside Avenue in Needham. Performances, in Russian with English audio-translation, take place Fridays at 7:30pm; Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm and 7pm. Tickets ($45/$65) are available by calling (617) 942-0022, or online at www.arlekinplayers.com.

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. Performances are in Russian, with simultaneous translation into English. The company makes its home in Needham, MA. www.arlekinplayers.com.

Mikhail Bulgakov was a Russian writer, physician and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, published posthumously, which has been called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century. In 1929, he had begun a novel, written in the form of letters, called For Secret Friend (also unfinished), addressed to his future wife Helen, which explains how he "became a playwright." In 1930, For Secret Friend began to develop into a new novel, The Theatre, but in the same year he burned his initial sketches. Six years later, after his final break with Moscow Art Theatre, Bulgakov began writing a novel about the theatre. On the first page of the manuscript, he outlined two titles: A Dead Man's Memoir and Theatrical Novel.

Igor Golyak graduated from the Schukin Theatre Institute in Moscow in 2002 with a specialization in acting. While attending the school, Igor acquired such awards as "Best Student Performance" at the Yaroslavl Theatre Festival for his role in The Portrait, and "Best Actor Award" in the Vienna Theater Festival for his role in the Diary of a Madman. Upon graduation, he was accepted to "Teatru Nikitskih Vorot" and performed with the theatre for two years. At the same time, he acquired a professional teaching/ directing degree from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts in Moscow. Igor has taught seminars at Wellesley College, Russian Academy of Theatre Arts/Middlesex University, Moscow Specialized Institute for the Arts, ARBOS Theatre Festival, New Art Studio, and Arlekin Studio in Needham.

Born in Kharkov City, Ukraine, Victor Plotnikov received his training at the Kiev-Ukraine School and the St. Petersburg Vaganova Ballet Academy. >From 1987 to 1990, he was a soloist with Donetsk Ballet Company in the Ukraine. Plotnikov held principal dancer positions at Ballet Mississippi and Tulsa Ballet Theatre between 1990 and 1993, before joining Boston Ballet as a principal dancer in 1993, where he performed until 2006. He has danced major roles in extensive classical and contemporary ballets by many of the major choreographers, and has toured extensively in Russia and the U.S.

Award-winning designer Nikolay Simonov is a star of Russian theatre, coming from Moscow to design this production. A graduate of the scenery art faculty of the M. B. Grekov Art School in Rostov-on-Don, Simonov started working at the Theatre of the Young Spectator in Vologda, later moved to the Krasnodar Drama Theatre, and in 1990 continued on to the Rostov Academic Youth Theatre, where he worked as chief designer for 12 years. He is currently head of scenic design of the current Moscow Art Theatre.

Composer Jakov Jakoulov is an author of three ballets, ten instrumental concertos, music for over 20 theatrical, TV and cinema productions and numerous symphonic, chamber and choral works. In recent years his music has been presented by Verbier Music Festival (Switzerland), Boston Symphony Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival, "Future Classics" Series with Dallas Symphony Orchestra, New European Strings Orchestra, Armenian National Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, International Arts Festivals in Edinburgh, Avignon, and Cortona, "Kammerspille," "Lilla," Bachanalia Festival Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Juilliard Orchestra, among others.

About Arlekin Players Theatre

In 2011, Arlekin's production of Anton Chekhov's "The Bear" was the winner of the New England Regional Festival in Concord, NH, selected to move on to the national level of competition in Rochester, NY that following June. Also in 2011, while participating in the Michael Chekhov International Theatre Festival, the company won the Best Director and Best Actress Award. The Company was a guest participant of the 2012 International Festival "Golden Lion" in Lviv, Ukraine, after which Arlekin was invited to perform its production of Alexander Pushkin's "The Guest" at the Moscow Art Theatre School. Performed on one of the most admired stages in Moscow, the production was greeted with a standing ovation. In 2013, Arlekin was honored to represent the United States with their production of Anton Chekhov's "The Bear" at the prestigious Mondial du Théâtre in Monaco, hosted by Prince Albert.

In 2016, the show "Natasha's Dream" was invited to and took part in three international theatre festivals - United Solo Festival New York (Best Projection Design award), Moscow SOLO Festival, Russia (Where they shared the stage with Robert Wilson, Romeo Castellucci and Konstantin Raikin)and HighFest Yerevan, Armenia.

For more information about Arlekin Players Theatre, visit www.arlekinplayers.com.

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