Inferno at UNCONVENTIONAL SIDE HUSTLE

Theater 86, a repertory theater located on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, kicks off its 2024 season with an extended run of INFERNO. Based on The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, this production will play at Pushkin Hall from February 1st to April 27th, 2024 at 165 W86th Street in Manhattan. Tickets are now on sale at www.theater86.com. 

Critically-acclaimed director Aleksey Burago leads an international ensemble featuring actors Reanna Armellino, Can Deniz Erzaim, Semion Kashirin, Luisa Menzen, Ariel Polanco, Sarah O'Donnell, Tom Schubert, Mark Simmons and Di Zhu. This show will also feature the paintings of Valery Yershov, whose works have been shown as part of the international Art Armory Show, auctioned in Sotheby's and Phillips houses, as well as being held in many private collections and museums. 

Previously known as The Russian Arts Theater and Studio, this not-for-profit theater was created in 2004 by Aleksey Burago after immigrating to the United States. In a statement on the theater company's Instagram page, Burago stated, "When the theater was first created in 2004, we were inspired to share with New York stages what we considered to be the soul of Russia—its rich art, ballet and music history, its unparalleled theater training, and of course, its sublime writers who made one feel proud to have Russian blood running in his veins. As the world shifted around us, we tried our best to stay away from politics, not because we turned a deaf ear to the events around us, but because we hoped our theater can be a home to anyone who needed it. In the meantime, we found our salvation through the work. Whatever we felt was unjust, cruel and inhumane, we tried to express it through the words of Gogol, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Bulgakov, Mayakovsky, Tsvetaeva, Akhmatova, Pasternak, Mandelstam, Bunin, Berberova, and in recent years—Molière, Roald Dahl, George Orwell, Gabriel García Márquez and Dante Alighieri. In time, our theater formed an international family and we spent most of our lives creating on 86th street. The Upper West Side has become our second home. We came to love our interactions with the artists in the building, grew to know the local businesses, and formed incredible bonds with our neighbors. Inside Pushkin Hall, we built shows with actors from all backgrounds—Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Latvia, France, Germany, Italy, Guinea-Bissau, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, China, Israel, Turkey, Armenia, Australia, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Serbia. No matter how different we were, we were unified by the desire to create. At our core, we are New York emigres—misfits who live in this cramped and over-priced city because we value its diversity, varied opinions and the freedom to express them. As our repertoire began to reflect the faces that gave voices to them, we feel that the time has come to give ourselves a name that is void of a singular nationality. It is with this in mind that we announce our new name: Theater 86."

Performances of INFERNO will take place Feb 1 to Apr 27, 2024 at Pushkin Hall, located at 165 W86th Street, in Manhattan. Performances begin at 7:30PM. Critics are welcome. Tickets begin at $35 and are available at www.theater86.com. Standard ticketing fees apply.