I was born in the small town of Kozmodemyansk, in the Republic of Mari El. As a child, I organized my own amateur theater club, and my friends and I staged all the Winnie-the-Pooh stories at the local children’s hospital as a volunteer project. I joined Scarlet Sails Theater in 2015 for the first production, “Forest Commotion.” The initial reason for my involvement was a desire to engage children in Olga’s theater classes and to organize festive children’s performances. Over time, I realized that theater is a kind of therapy—a chance to step away from everyday life—and a discipline in its own right that helps strengthen teamwork skills, develop speech and voice, boost multitasking and memory, learn to control the body and breath, and generally take life skills to the next level. Theater is LIFE! And by profession, I’m a rather dreary finance manager and controller.

I am a civil engineer by profession. I was educated in my hometown of Kyiv and have spent my life doing what I love—designing building projects. As part of the Russian Foundation for the Arts (RUFFA), for many years I have been one of the organizers of Portland’s cultural events: concerts; talks with writers, journalists, actors, and artists; singer-songwriter gatherings; and BKHAT productions. Theater entered my life unexpectedly and became a serious passion. Six years ago, I started from scratch by enrolling in acting classes at Scarlet Sails. Every theater project—even a single exercise—helps me acquire new skills, teaches me, allows me to grow, and reveals more of who I am. I’m interested in every Scarlet Sails project I’ve been part of, and every role is dear to me. My toughest audience is my adult children. When I hear their laughter in the hall, I know it worked—they believed it. Each new production by our team is another step in the ensemble’s development. We study and improve under the guidance of our talented director, Olga Sotiriadi. We care about what we do and are happy to share it with our audience.

I was born in Kharkiv and, from the age of four, grew up in Tver. I hold two university degrees. Back in Tver I worked as an elementary school teacher, and later spent many years in the software networking field. I’ve always loved my work—especially moments when I could bring people together and organize events. I’m happy to take on anything, whether it’s a large celebration or a simple trip to the ocean. Details, small touches, and atmosphere matter to me.

Для меня театр — это коллективное создание истории, иллюзии; это один из древнейших инструментов человечества для передачи накопленной мудрости через поколения и способ осознать нашу общую человеческую сущность. Самое сложное — осознавать, что не каждое выступление будет идеальным, и, находясь на сцене, понимать, что ты отдаёшься не полностью или не смог захватить зрителей и увлечь их за собой. Тем не менее, когда удаётся перенести зрителя туда, где выдумка кажется реальнее реальности, ты смотришь с улыбкой на своих коллег с молчаливым пониманием: «Трюк удался». И это — самое приятное.

I came from Kharkiv and am an accountant by training. I’ve always loved fashion and sewed clothes. These days I’m into free-motion quilting, a technique where the needle “draws” on fabric to create patterns. From these “drawn” panels I sew handbags, belts, and even miniature holiday ornaments. Each piece is a small story stitched in fabric and thread. For years I struggled with public speaking. As soon as I faced an audience and tried to say two or three lines, my breath would hitch and my knees would shake. It felt like the stage was a world closed to me, even though I had long dreamed of theater. Then came the news: professional actors had arrived in Beaverton and were accepting students of any age. I didn’t walk, I flew. When I met Olga and Dmitry Sotiriadi, I knew: these are the teachers I want to learn from. Honestly, I’ve never fallen in love with a role at first sight. But once you start analyzing, understanding, and accepting your character, you fall for them. Every role is dear to me, but Sofya Ivanovna in If You Were Married holds a special place in my heart. She taught me that love, kindness, and care can extend life and make it truly bright and surprising. Today I’m part of a warm, close-knit team, people inspired by creativity and by making something new. And now, when I step on stage, my legs still tremble. But it’s no longer fear. It’s a thrill, and that’s where life lives.

I’m from St. Petersburg and graduated from LETI (Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute) in Electrical Engineering, then continued working as an IT engineer in Portland. The work is interesting: beyond technical tasks I often handled organizational ones as well. Since childhood I’ve loved theater, literature, music, and travel. I did a bit of community theater, but there’s a long road to becoming a true professional. I started here at BKHAT, and I’ve been with Scarlet Sails for six years. Under Olga Sotiriadi we’ve formed a remarkable team; it’s no accident, we’re united by a love of theater and a desire to convey far more than just a plot. Theater, for me, is where reality becomes flexible and feelings become honest. I once had a small role as a mad German woman that took me into another dimension: I had to learn another language and fill pauses with action rather than words, spending hours inside a self-contained world of madness. The hardest thing is not to “play” an emotion but to truly live it. What inspires me is that every performance is a one-of-a-kind moment when the audience looks at you and you realize they’re not seeing you, they’re seeing the story our team is creating on stage. What I want to tell you, our audience: Every show is a new encounter, with a little bit of wonder. The lights go down, and something begins that exists only here and only now.

Originally from Vladivostok, a city by the sea. I graduated from the Primorsky Regional College of Arts with a concentration in Classical Piano (performer, teacher, accompanist). For more than 10 years I’ve worked with children as a piano and music theory teacher, and I also have administrative experience as academic dean (assistant principal) at a State Music School in Russia. Alongside teaching, I perform actively as a pianist and session musician with various ensembles, music remains my artistic path. Nearly three years ago I moved to the United States, where I’m discovering a new creative direction, theater. Today I’m exploring the role of assistant director and gladly embracing new experiences.

I lived in the city of Volgodonsk (Rostov Region) until I finished high school. I graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. I hold the degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences (Ph.D.–equivalent) in Computer-Aided Design Systems. For the past 20 years I have worked at Intel. For many years I played soccer and futsal at the amateur level. The peak of my non-work administrative career was serving on the organizing committee of the city’s annual futsal tournament. For a time I hosted educational trivia quizzes for friends, similar to the famous “What? Where? When?” Since childhood I have supported FC Rostov (formerly Rostselmash). Before moving to the United States, I traveled to cities across Russia and Europe, catching soccer matches along the way. I joined Scarlet Sails theater classes in May 2022. In our team I value the cohesion, responsibility, and work ethic of my partners and friends. Performances, of course, bring a sea of emotions, but rehearsals themselves, the work process, exploration, discussion, debate, run-throughs, improvisation, setting goals and achieving them, bring a lot of positive experiences. I began my stage career with a fairy-tale Snowman, then played an entire zoo in children’s productions: Mouse, Wolf, Crow, and Bear. Children’s laughter and genuine emotions are incredibly motivating and inspiring. You can’t fool a child, you have to give twice as much. I have had two strictly adult roles: Sergey Sergeyevich, the artistic director of a backwater singing club, and Ludovic, a French con man. Ludovic is my favorite role at the moment, more than two hours on stage, during which the character experiences a wide range of emotions in his complicated fate as a petty crook. To our audience I want to say: don’t miss our productions! Each project is a unique original work, created from scratch with great love, enthusiasm, and dedication by the entire creative team under the direction of the talented Olga Sotiriadi. Come yourselves, bring friends! We need our audience’s support and attention.

Scarlet Sails came into my life quite a while ago, when—after moving from Israel, I started going to performances in Portland. After I began working as a nurse, I suddenly realized that my job is, in a way, very similar to theater. Every time I take on a new patient, I have to understand them, feel where they are, and help them believe in their own strength. Play a certain role and help them live as well as possible going forward, even if illness keeps them in bed. I wanted to try on different roles in theater too, so I started looking for studios where I could express myself. All in all, I’m a beginner and still learning. I did theater only as a child; then came kids, moves, new countries and languages—there just wasn’t time. Only when the kids grew up and left the nest did I remember my childhood dream. I tried a bit at BKHAT, took an improv class, and wanted more serious training. I hope my first attempt won’t be a flop. After this “first try,” the next role promises to be much deeper and more serious. I want to convey the full range of emotions. I hope I won’t let the team down.

I was born in Kazakhstan, grew up in Russia, and live in Portland. I never took a first step, I started running right away…and I still can’t stop. To rehearsal, after the kids, to the gym, chasing a new dream. By profession I’m an English teacher, but by nature I’m someone who always has to be moving toward something. Beyond theater, I love opera, Audrey Hepburn, sports, anything on the water (especially boats and paddleboarding), beauty in all its forms, the unusual, and, of course, learning new things. More than anything, I love trying new things, finding inspiration in the most unexpected places, and sharing what I discover. The most inspiring part of acting for me is the moment a story comes alive onstage, when the audience and the actors breathe in unison and that very magic hangs in the air, the magic we rehearse, discuss, and create for hours. For me, theater is the art of making wonder, and stepping into it together with the audience.

Why do I go onstage? What drives me there and gives me a push? The desire to take part in the process that turns sounds, movement, light, and objects onstage into a performance. The thrill of yanking myself by the hair out of the swamp of my own “self.” I’m not even sure I want to be another person, even briefly. But the role, the production (and the director!) demand that I show that other person (or a rabbit, or the third mushroom) onstage. That’s where the magic of theater happens. And for that magic to work on the audience, you have to let it work on you first. I’m studying at the Scarlet Sails studio how to open myself to that magic. It turns out you can teach and learn magic. The studio gives me the chance to master elements of acting under the guidance of professional Olga Sotiriadi. Those elements include essential physical skills and theoretical knowledge. And yes, there’s a magical part too. Since I started at the studio (in 2019), my confidence that I’m doing something useful onstage has grown significantly. At the same time, I’ve discovered a rapidly expanding space for growth. Besides my passion for theater, I have a profession. I’m an engineer. I also love watching the world through my camera’s viewfinder. And there’s RUFFA with concerts and gatherings.