Nikolay Kolyada

Nikolay Vladimirovich Kolyada (Russian: Николай Владимирович Коляда; also transliterated as Nikolai Koliada; 4 December 1957 – 2 March 2026) was a Russian actor, theatre director, writer, playwright, and teacher. Theatre critic John Freedman named Kolyada as one of several dramatists and directors who might be designated as "fathers" or "mothers" of Russia's contemporary theatre movement. (Other contenders mentioned are Aleksei Kazantsev, Elena Gremina, Nadezhda Ptushkina, and Ol’ga Mukhina). The New York Times said that Kolyada's work has made Yekaterinburg a "center of modern drama." Kolyada was one of the first Russian playwrights to address homosexuality in his work, especially in Slingshot.