NATASHA'S DREAM Returns in English Translation at Arlekin Players Today

After two acclaimed Russian productions at Boston Playwrights' Theatre and the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, Arlekin Players' one-woman show NATASHA'S DREAM, featuring actress Darya Denisova returns in a translated run at the Arlekin Players Theatre, 268 Hillside Avenue in Needham, today, February 27 and tomorrow, February 28, 2016. Performances are at 7:00pm, and tickets ($25/$50) are available by calling (617) 942-0022, or online at www.arlekinplayers.com. This production is for mature audiences.

NATASHA'S DREAM is one of two plays in Yaroslava Pulinovich's 'Natasha Plays'. The plays (along with I Won!) catapulted the young playwright to prominence in theater circles in Russia. Both are compelling portraits that delve deep into the souls and the experience of two very different young women from one of Russia's provincial cities. In NATASHA'S DREAM, a girl tells the story of her life in a small-town orphanage, and her desire to be free; to fly away and break the vicious circle of life. From the inside of a court room, she will make twists and turns through her unique appeal to audiences, letting them into her world where she dreams about love, family, acceptance, adjusting and her future.

Originally performed in Russian, the production has been translated into English by John Freedman. "[It] is one of the most resonant texts to have emerged in Russia over the last two or three years," noted Freedman in 2011. "[It] is an incisive look at the complex life of one teenage girl who runs up against insensitive teachers, shifty classmates, a journalist who unwittingly wins her heart, and a couple of experiences that most likely will scar her life forever." He continues, "Pulinovich's text, written when she herself was a teenager, is deceptively simple. Much more than a picture of teenage angst, it is a stinging rebuke to an insensitive society. It is a portrait in pastels - with a few strokes of dark, bloody red - of youthful dreams being offered up as a sacrifice to 'the way of the world.'"

In NATASHA'S DREAM, the stage setting (Anastasia Grigorieva), the lighting (Mike McTeague), video (Anton Iakhontov) and music (Yury Schelkovsky, Vadim Khrapachev) are used in creative ways to support the actress in her storytelling. With the help of 3D video mapping to project images on different surfaces, the story comes to life. Directed by Arlekin Artistic Director Igor Golyak, the play explores new and unique ways of interaction between the actress and her surrounding space through this technique. Apart from the visual aspect that electrifies the set, original music was composed for this play to accentuate the design of the video and crystallize the emotional aspect of Natasha's story. Of the production said Benny Sato Ambush, Senior Distinguished Producing Director-in-Residence of Emerson College, "Their acting style and productions are of very high quality and his aesthetic as a Director is alive, often surprising, theatrically imaginative and representative of the storytelling innovation of that part of the world."

Actress Darya Denisova joined Arlekin's Studio in 2013, during which time she was also studying acting at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts in Moscow. Having played some bright and memorable roles at student showcases, Denisova made her Arlekin company's Memorial Player in 2014. 'Natasha' is her first starring role, in which she fills Pulinovich's text with of energy, destructive and creative at the same time. Simple words about love and dreams turn into a spell. Each word settling in soil and taking its germ there. Denisova absorbs the energy of her viewers, and from her first word, she is 'Natasha' in dialogue with her audience, trying to open her confined space and mind, and showing there is so much more than just pain within.

After seeing this production in December, 2015, Dr. Anatoly Smeliansky, head of the Moscow Art Theater School and the Co-Head of Dramaturgy, A.R.T. Institute, was so impressed by the performance, he suggested Arlekin Players to join the Moscow International Theatre Festival in Moscow, in May 2016. Arlekin Theatre's application is currently in submission for consideration.

Playwright Yaroslava Pulinovich was born in 1987 in Omsk, Russia. The winner of the Theatre Union's scholarship, she graduated from Yekaterinburg Drama College in 2009, where she studied playwriting under the famous writer, Nikolai Kolyada. Pulinovich received prizes and diplomas in numerous drama competitions. Shortlisted for the Debut Prize in 2006, she then won the prize in 2008. Her plays have been produced in Russia and abroad.

Arlekin Players' NATASHA'S DREAM will play at the Arlekin Players Theatre, 268 Hillside Avenue in Needham, February 27 and 28, 2016. Performances are at 7:00pm, and tickets ($25/$50) are available by calling (617) 942-0022, or online at www.arlekinplayers.com. This production is for mature audiences.

Arlekin Players Theatre was created in Boston in 2009 and has since toured in New York, Chicago, and Hartford. On March 5, 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 American Association of Community Theatre's national level of competition in Rochester, NY that following June. 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 The?a?tre in Monaco, hosted by Prince Albert.

Arlekin takes strong pride in their emphasis on self-identity; they are viewed as a Russian troupe to English audiences, yet they are not viewed in the same regard to their international audiences. Essentially, 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.

Artistic Director Igor Golgraduated from the prestigious Schukin Theatre Institute in Moscow, Russia 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 "Teatr u 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.

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

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