Jessica Hecht shares Boston stage with Mikhail Baryshnikov in 'The Orchard'

Having already appeared in two productions of Anton Chekhov’s “The Three Sisters,” actress Jessica Hecht says she knew which play by the Russian author and playwright she wanted to do next.

That is, until she met with director Igor Golyak, founder and artistic director of Needham’s Arlekin Players Theatre, and was presented with the opportunity to appear in another Chekhov classic, being done in an all-new way.

“Chekhov’s ‘The Seagull’ has been on my bucket list for some time, but Igor had just done a production of that so he suggested the role of Lyubov Ranevskaya in ‘The Orchard,’ his new adaptation of ‘The Cherry Orchard,’” explained Hecht by telephone recently from her New York home.

“I love Chekhov and I’ve always wanted to do this role, but it wasn’t until Igor first told me about his idea to develop ‘The Cherry Orchard’ for a smaller cast and make it multimedia that I really thought seriously about it,” she says.

Originally presented in early summer off-Broadway at New York’s Baryshnikov Arts Center, “The Orchard” has since been updated for its Boston premiere, which begins a 10-performance in-person run at the Emerson Paramount Center on November 4, with six virtual performances of “The Orchard /an auction/” available November 9-13.

Golyak developed “The Orchard,” his new take on “The Cherry Orchard,” in Arlekin’s Zero Gravity (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab as a hybrid theater piece presented in two distinct ways –as “The Orchard” live and in person, and as “The Orchard /an auction/,” a virtual experience online.

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Translated by Carol Rocamora, “The Orchard” raises the curtain on the odd, fragile, and beautiful world of an aristocratic family longing for connection and grappling with the realization that their world, as they have always known it, is coming to an end. Faced with foreclosure and the loss of their beloved orchard, they see their lives dismantled before them.

Hecht – who will reprise her role as landowner Ranevskaya in Boston alongside Mikhail Baryshnikov as Firs, her aged and loyal butler, and a cast that also includes Juliet Brett, Darya Denisova, Jeffrey Hayenga, Elise Kibler, Gene Ravvin, and local actor Nael Nacer of Brookline – vividly recalls an early meeting with Golak.

“Igor didn’t even know me and he said, ‘You’re sort of like water, you’re very suggestible,’” she said with a laugh. “‘I know you will like this character. Let’s go on this journey.’”

Exploring Russian playwright Chekhov’s final play was just their first journey together. In August, the Ukrainian-born Golyak accompanied Hecht on a visit to Moldova organized by The Campfire Project, the non-profit organization founded in 2017 by Hecht and Jenny Gersten to promote arts-based wellness in refugee spaces.

“We had hoped to go to Odessa in Ukraine but that couldn’t happen, so Igor became our conduit to three communities in Moldova – The Sunflower Center in the capital, Chisinau, the Bolohan Shelter for Refugees north of Chisinau, and the Tudora Community near the Ukrainian border,” Hecht said.

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Partnering with IsraAID in Moldova, and with help from Needham's Shapiro Foundation and other organizations, the Campfire team worked with children of all ages on projects involving music, theater and performance.

“We bring humanitarian aid, but we do it like a summer arts camp,” Hecht said. “We find common music and dance which we all share. It’s all about releasing yourself in the moment. In Moldova, Igor directed daily skits because he spoke the language.”

Returning from Eastern Europe, Hecht – last seen on Broadway in the 2017 revival of Arthur Miller’s “The Price,” and perhaps best known for television roles including Gretchen Schwartz in AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” and Susan Bunch on the sitcom “Friends” – was pleased to return to “The Orchard.”

“What’s so intriguing about Igor’s work is that it is of the moment technologically, but still allows for the acting to be delicate,” she said.

Sharing the set with the actors is a 12-foot robotic arm, designed and donated by the Seattle-based Kuka, that sweeps the floor, serves coffee and takes photographs, projecting the images onto a stage-encompassing scrim.

“Igor’s aesthetic is in no way pretentious. He combines technology with a grass-roots approach to the theater. The robot is very practical, not high-falutin’,” said Hecht, an Obie Award winner.

“The cameras and light in the robotic creature create projections,” Hecht said. “You’re acting in a stage production, but you’re also trying to adjust it delicately so you don’t look too big.”

The Princeton, N.J.-born and Bloomfield, Connecticut-raised Hecht, a graduate of New York University Tisch School of the Arts, has made her own adjustments to her character.

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“I play Ranevskaya as being perhaps too narrowly focused on a trust-your-heart, love-will-carry-the-day personal philosophy. She feels that people are innately keyed in to the same things she is, or will be if they are in her presence.

“She’s really naïve to the fact that people have other agendas,” Hecht said. “She’s also quite insecure, continuously resisting introspection, all the while sticking to her belief that if her family can all get back together, they will survive.”

Chekhov described “The Cherry Orchard” as a comedy with elements of farce, while others have called it a tragedy. Hecht comes down somewhere in the middle.

“It’s a blend of both,” she said. “The comedy is really essential, however, because of the absurdity of the situation and the desire this family has to believe that they have evolved from the last time they were all together.”

That belief is one that Hecht said sustains her character through many adversities, including the loss of her son. Being reunited with her now elderly manservant, Firs, is further sustaining for Ranevskaya.

“There are different translations, of course, but every one of them includes the moment she sees Firs and tells him ‘Oh, I’m so glad you’re still alive,’” said Hecht, who also feels glad to once again be sharing a stage with Baryshnikov, the legendary ballet dancer, choreographer and actor.

“Misha is the most modest, thoughtful, creative being I have ever worked with. He has meticulous respect for the arts, but he can be irreverent and very funny, too.

“He’s also a figure of epic humanitarian proportions. He speaks so poignantly about Russia and, through True Russia, the charity he co-founded, strongly opposes what he calls ‘Putin’s War,’” she said. “To be in the presence of such a deeply realized, evolved human being is a joy.”

If you go

What: 'The Orchard'

When: Nov. 4-13 in person; Nov. 9-13 virtual

Where: Emerson Paramount Center, 559 Washington St., Boston

Tickets: $15 and up

Info: 617-824-8400 or emersontheatres.org

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: 'The Orchard': A new take on Chekhov by Arlekin Players of Needham