Nikolay Vladimirovich Kolyada is a Russian actor, director, writer, playwright, and playwriting teacher. Theatre critic John Freedman names Kolyada as one of several dramatists and directors who might be designated as "fathers" or "mothers" of Russia's contemporary theatre movement.. The New York Times said that Kolyada's work has made a Yekaterinburg a "center of modern drama." Kolyada is one of the first Russian playwrights to address homosexuality in his work, especially in Slingshot.
