Zoom Performances Added for The Cherry Orchard Festival's Presentation of STATE VS. NATASHA BANINA

The Cherry Orchard Festival will present two more opportunities to view Boston's Arlekin Players Theatre's production of State vs. Natasha Banina, a newly-conceived live Zoom interactive theater art experiment, directed by Igor Golyak and featuring Arlekin company's leading actress and 2020 Elliot Norton Award winner (Outstanding Actress) Darya Denisova. The added performances will take place on Sunday July 5 and July 12 at 8 p.m. ET live on Zoom. State vs. Natasha Banina is based on a play by contemporary Russian playwright, Yaroslava Pulinovich's Natasha's Dream. For information or to reserve a Zoom spot, visit CherryOrchardFestival.org. Each performance will also offer live post-show discussion.

All performances are free and Zoom registration is required. Suggested donations will support COVID-19 EMERGENCY RELIEF effort for THE ACTORS FUND. For images, click here.

"We are so thrilled to be adding two more performances of State vs. Natasha Banina to the upcoming month. The response from viewers has been overwhelming, and having been chosen as a The New York Times' Critics Choice, we are grateful to have the chance to provide more opportunities for Cherry Orchard Festival patrons to view this extraordinarily inventive work," said Maria Shclover, executive producer of the Cherry Orchard Festival.

"We developed a partnership with Boston's Arlekin Players Theatre, a small local Boston-based company that was recently recognized by the Boston Theater Critics Association with 10 nominations and four wins at the 38th Annual Elliot Norton Awards," added Irina Shabshis, artistic director of the Festival. "Arlekin's visionary director, Igor Golyak, launched a new production in cyberspace that combines live acting, visual and sound effects, and recreates the community experience for the theatergoer."

State vs Natasha Banina is set inside a zoom courtroom where the audience is the jury observing the young girl in confinement, telling her story directly to the camera lens. The play transforms its virtual audience into a jury tasked with deciding the fate of Natasha Banina, a 16-year-old orphan on trial for attempted manslaughter. Natasha makes her unique appeal to audiences as the jurors, letting them into her world, where she dreams about love, family, acceptance, adjusting and her future. Ultimately, the audience of jurors decides her fate.

Golyak and Denisova each received 2020 Elliot Norton Awards from the Boston Theater Critics Association for Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Actress, respectively for the Arlekin Players Theatre production of The Stone. The two have been rehearsing State vs. Natasha Banina during quarantine.

"During these uncertain times, being artistic and creative are essential, and we are excited about this new theatrical experience," says Igor Golyak. "We are creating a new art form to overcome social distancing, the pandemic, and ultimately unite people in one virtual space by merging theater, cinematography, and video games."

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