Igor Golyak

Igor Golyak (born 1979) is a Ukrainian-American theatre director. He has received recognition for his work off-Broadway and in his adopted hometown of Boston. Golyak’s productions have won or been nominated for numerous awards, including winning four Lucille Lortel Awards in 2025 for his production of Our Class by Tadeusz Słobodzianek in the categories of outstanding revival, outstanding director, outstanding ensemble and scenic design.

In Boston, he has won Elliot Norton Awards in the categories of outstanding production (small) for The Dybbuk in 2025, and outstanding direction and production (small) for The Stone (Der Stein) by Marius von Mayenburg in 2020. Two of his virtual productions were named The New York Times Critic’s Picks: chekhovOS/an experimental game and State vs. Natasha Banina. The Wall Street Journal included Our Class in their Best Theater of 2024 list.

Early life and education Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, when it was part of the Soviet Union, Golyak was the first child of Sofiya and Mikhail Golyak. He learned that he was Jewish when he was 7 or 8 years old as his family prepared to emigrate to the U.S. In 1990 when Golyak was 11, his family settled near Boston, Massachusetts. He earned a master’s degree in directing from the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts and a master’s in acting from the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute under the Vakhtangov State Academic Theatre.

Career After returning from Russia to the Boston area in 2004, They also attracted the attention of high-profile future collaborators, such as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Jessica Hecht, who appeared in both the live and virtual performances of The Orchard, Golyak’s adaptation of The Cherry Orchard. and The Dybbuk.

In 2020, Golyak launched the Zero Gravity (Zero-G) Lab,

In addition to directing, Golyak has taught acting at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and has served as a guest lecturer at several colleges and universities in the Boston area.

Selected works

Selected awards and honors