Soldier Boys

Soldier Boys, by L. Seymour Simckes, takes us back to Czar Nicholas I’s chaos-creating edict of 1827 drafting Jewish children into the Russian army as cantonists until age 18, and thereafter for 25 years. In a style that blends Brecht with Duck Soup, the play follows the disruptive consequences of this edict for Czar Nicholas himself and a five-year-old kidnapped recruit, Itsig, who, along with his beautiful and devoted Jewish mother, becomes an obsession for the Czar. Directed by Crystal Field.