Drama Class with Igor Golyak
Igor Golyak Golyak received a master’s degree in directing from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts in 2004, as well as an acting degree from Moscow’s Schukin Theatre Institute (Vakhtangov Theater). Since coming to the Boston area, Igor has taught classes and seminars at Boston University, Harvard University, Lesley College, Wellesley College, New England Theater Conference, the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts/Middlesex University, Moscow Specialized Institute for the Arts, and the ARBOS Theatre Festival, and Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He is the founder of the Igor Golyak Acting Studio and artistic director of Arlekin Players Theatre, which has won numerous awards in the United States and internationally—most recently an Elliot Norton Award for his production of Dead Man’s Diary at Arts Emerson. and Berkley New Arts Studio and Arlekin Studio.
Documentary Theater Lesson
In this video, Igor is teaching a drama class at The Arlekin Players Theater. His teaching builds up on old-fashioned storytelling techniques. The stories are inspired by transcribed interviews with the people of Russian speaking Diaspora, historical documents, and other primary sources, focusing on the social, political, environmental and medical issues that immigrants have faced. Igor has masterfully orchestrated the stories and taught students to bring them to life in multimedia staged readings. Little did students know the classes with Igor would forever change not only how they learn Russian but also how they think about human interaction in general and storytelling in particular.