The award-winning Arlekin Players is celebrating its 15th anniversary with growth and recognition. All of the productions from the Needham-based company have a unique take, with a specific message.

"All the plays address displacement, address the idea of two worlds and address connecting with people, connecting with people that are very different from you," Founder Igor Golyak said.

The Russian immigrant knew his personal experience would shape the company's focus.

"How do we live between those two worlds? How do we merge the worlds? Where do we keep the things that we brought with us? And how do we take new things in?" he said. "And all of those questions are part of the conversation at this theater."

"Igor comes at things from an Eastern European sensibility and artistry, and it is different," said Sara Stackhouse, the company's producing director. "My feeling has always been that Igor is a world-class talent who was working in a 42-seat theater in Needham. And that if he could have light and opportunity, when we could find a path, he would have an influence on American theater and do beautiful things."

Arlekin first performed plays in Russian, but has since transitioned to pieces in English.

Golyak explained, "It's not about the language. We really think about the connections that people can make. Even with our accents and even with the fact that we look different or we sound different."

"We're in a divided world and it is so urgent and critical that we sit in a room with people who are different than we are, and that we try to understand our neighbors and that we try to see things from a different perspective," Stackhouse added.

Virtual theater

When COVID hit, Golyak's passion for technology led to some attention-grabbing virtual work.

"They flipped everything over during the pandemic," Stackhouse said. "And we made unbelievable plays that were seen in 55 countries online, live, interactive with people interacting."

"It kind of went viral and the New York Times came and gave it a critic's pick. And which was amazing, right? Because we never would have found the New York Times in Needham, Massachusetts, in my studio," Golyak said.

As for the future?

"We all have expectations of what the theater can be when we come to the theater," Golyak said. "I want to push those expectations. I want to do something that's unexpected. And for people to get used to theater being unexpected."

In November, Arlekin will restage last season's sold-out piece, called The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds. And the summer production of Our Class will tour the West Coast.