Baryshnikov Arts Center & Cherry Orchard Festival Present Arlekin Players Theatre STATE VS. NATASHA BANINA

Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) and Cherry Orchard Festival co-present Arlekin Players Theatre performing live online as part of BAC's Fall 2020 season of digital presentations. Free registration is required at bacnyc.org for State vs. Natasha Banina, which will be performed live on ZOOM October 12 and 14 at 8PM EDT.

From Boston's award-winning company, this interactive digital theater work-which began in May 2020 as a living room experiment and went on to be a New York Times Critic's Pick-is based on Natasha's Dream by Russian playwright Yaroslava Pulinovich. Directed by Arlekin's founding artistic director Igor Golyak, who also created the production's inventive video design with animation by Anton Iakhontov, State vs Natasha Banina is set inside a "ZOOM courtroom."

The virtual audience is transformed into the jury that will determine the fate of a Russian teenager from a small-town orphanage, whose desire for freedom led to a crime of passion. Darya Denisova (2020 Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Actress) gives a "mesmerizing portrayal" (The Boston Globe) of Natasha Banina, whose alluring testimony draws the jury into her world, where she dreams of love, family, and her future. Is Natasha guilty of manslaughter? You, the audience, will decide.

Developed during the pandemic and period of quarantine, State vs. Natasha Banina has emerged as a leading example of innovation in virtual theater, and evidence that live performance can break boundaries and engage audiences even when experienced at home on a laptop. Says 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."

State vs. Natasha Banina is produced by Igor Golyak and Sara Stackhouse; translation is by John Freedman, and music is by Vadim Khraptchev. Production associate is Marianna Golyak. State vs. Natasha Banina will be performed live on ZOOM, in English, on Monday, October 12 at 8PM EDT and Wednesday, October 14 at 8PM EDT. The running time is 55 minutes, followed by conversation with artists and audience. Free registration is required at bacnyc.org.