OUR CLASS opens at Classic Stage Company

Following a sold-out run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in winter 2024, Polish playwright Tadeusz Slobodzianek’s Off-Broadway production of Our Class, helmed by Ukrainian-born, Jewish director Igor Golyak, now opens at Classic Stage Company’s Lynn F. Angelson Theater in Manhattan for a limited run from September 12 through November 3. Check out photos from opening night below!

It will be immediately followed by Golyak’s adaptation of The Merchant of Venice from November 22 to December 22 with the same cast. As wars rage in Israel and Gaza, and in Ukraine, as neighbours fight neighbours, and as anti-Semitism rises around the world, these two plays are deeply relevant and timely. Together, they form a powerful four-month artistic residency Arlekin in New York, presented by MART Foundation.

Our Class follows ten Polish classmates, five Jewish and five Catholic, who grow up as playmates, friends, and neighbors who then turn on each other with life-or-death consequences. The play comes as the world grapples with a rise in anti-Semitism across the globe. Our Class was a headline production of the 2024 Under the Radar Festival and has received multiple award nominations: a Drama League Award nomination for Outstanding Revival of a Play; an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play (Gus Birney); and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Projection and Video Design (Eric Dunlap).

Critics raved about the New York Premiere production of Our Class at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The Wall Street Journal raved, “An epic and intimate drama… stark and uncompromising,” and the Boston Globe agreed, saying, “This production is a deadly serious indictment of anti-Semitism and bigotry from a dizzyingly kaleidoscopic range of angles. The entire cast is excellent!” And the New York Times praised director Igor

The cast of Our Class includes Gus Birney (The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window) as Dora, Andrey Burkovskiy (Call DiCaprio!) as Menachem, José Espinosa (Take Me Out) as Rysiek, Tess Goldwyn (New Amsterdam) as Zocha, Will Manning (As Reaper in the Summer Gain) as Heniek, Stephen Ochsner (Chicks) as Jakub Katz, Alexandra Silber (Fiddler on the Roof) as Rachelka/Marianna, Richard Topol (Indecent; The Normal Heart) as Abram, Ilia Volok (Gemini Man, The Gaaga) as Władek and Elan Zafir (Hedda Gabler) as Zygmunt.

Much of the company will return for The Merchant of Venice. Richard Topol will play Shylock, joined by Birney, Espinosa, Goldwyn, Ochsner and Alexandra Silber as Portia. Additional casting will be announced.

The creative teams are comprised of artists from New York and around the world. For Our Class, set designer Jan Pappelbaum of the Schaubuehne, costume design by Sasha Ageeva, lighting design by Adam Silverman, music by Oscar winner Anna Drubich (Navalny), music direction by Lisa Gutkin, projection design by Eric Dunlap, chalk drawing design by Adreea Mincic, choreography by Or Schraiber, intimacy design by Leana Gardella, hair and makeup design by Timur Sadykov, and dramaturgy by Dr. Rachel Merrill Moss. Kyra Bowie is the production manager. This cross-cultural collaboration between actors, designers, producers, artists and technicians, led by Golyak, is an attempt to untangle the traumas of the past and grapple with the same questions of today. Our Class is co-executive produced by MART’s Sofia Kapkova and Arlekin’s Sara Stackhouse.

Stackhouse is also an executive producer on The Merchant of Venice.

The Arlekin Residency at Classic Stage Company (September 12 – December 22) is led by Arlekin Artistic Director Igor Golyak and Producing Director Sara Stackhouse (The Orchard; Just Tell No One; State vs. Natasha Banina), in collaboration with Sofia Kapkova of the MART Foundation.

Photo credit: Mariia Kovalenko

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