About the Show

Part of FringeNYC: Six orphans struggle to survive in a small Russian village just after the Civil War. Chaos reigns in this lyrical tale of dark secrets, White guards, Young Leninists, Tsarist treasures, and lightning bugs.

Categories: Drama, Local. From Infinite Variety Productions. Written by Alla Ilyasova. Directed by Colleen Britt.

FROM THE ARTIST:
It's 1923. In the past nine years, Russia and its people have endured two Revolutions, five wars, two so-called Terrors (Red and White), a famine claiming five million lives, countless uprisings, mass executions, drought, disease. The royal family has been disposed of, and Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks have taken over what is left - the burned down bridges and the flooded mines, the ransacked railway stations, mills and factories, the crowded, filthy city streets... and seven million parentless and homeless youths.

Svetlyachki is a story about six orphans struggling to survive in a small Russian village just after the Civil War. The ninety-minute drama (developed in part in the Actors Studio’s Playwright-Director Workshop) is a tribute to those among us who are, too frequently, the most unnoticeable and unseen, and yet who have the power in them to inspire the rest of us to (when the world grows dark) refuse to give up or give in, and learn to glow.

Critic Reviews (1)

"These actors are most certainly no longer children, and yet their physicality and vocal choices are very successful in creating the environment of a dangerous children’s battleground...There are a few moments in which the writing and direction can use tightening: monologues roll on too long, motivation is sometimes unclear, and individual relationships have the tendency to be a little muddy. However, the story moves in ways that are unexpected."
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