Arlekin presents
A teenager on trial. An audience as jury. A verdict decided live, every night, on Zoom. State vs. Natasha Banina carries Arlekin through the pandemic and onto the New York Times Critic's Pick list.
When the theater closes in March 2020, Arlekin does not wait. Within two months Igor Golyak and Darya Denisova rebuild Natasha's Dream as a live, interactive trial. Natasha Banina, sixteen, from a provincial orphanage, tells her story to a jury of people watching from their homes. At the end they vote, and the verdict changes the ending. Animation by Anton Iakhontov, music by Vadim Khrapatchev.
It premieres May 17, 2020 from the Needham studio and runs through July. The New York Times names it a Critic's Pick on June 17, 2020. Presenters line up: ArtsEmerson and the Cherry Orchard Festival, Shakespeare & Company's Berkshire drive-in, Baryshnikov Arts Center, The Wilma Theater, ShowOne Productions in Canada, Voila! Europe in London, and later UCLA CAP, PICA and Gesher Theatre in Israel. It plays in English and in Russian with subtitles.
It is the first project of Arlekin's Zero Gravity (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab and shares a 2022 Elliot Norton Special Citation with chekhovOS and WITNESS.
