Nikolai Kolyada

Nikolai Kolyada (1957–2026) is a distinguished Russian playwright, director, actor, and teacher, considered one of the most important creators of contemporary Russian theater. The founder of the Kolyada Theater in Yekaterinburg, he wrote over 100 plays (including Merylin Mongol and The Slingshot), characterized by a distinctive, often naturalistic language, which have been widely performed in Russia and abroad, including Poland. He was born on December 4, 1957, in the North Kazakhstan Oblast (Kazakhstan), into a family of state farm workers. In 1973-74, he studied at the drama school in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) and then worked as an actor. He made his debut as a playwright in 1986 with the play "We Play Fortunes." He gained international acclaim for his 1989 play "The Slingshot". Kolyada has developed his own distinctive dramatic style, often described as "new brutalism" or poetic naturalism. His plays focus on the lives of ordinary, often marginalized people, presenting their tragedies with honesty and a lack of sentimentality.