Hercules in Russia

Allyson Currin crafts a memory play based on historical fact, weaving a poignant, complex and evocative tale of love and loyalty in the face of government oppression. Born to slaves in Alabama, Jim Hercules finds a privileged life as a Royal Guard to Tsar Nicholas II in Russia. On the eve of the Russian Revolution as the specter of violent change looms over his adopted country, he is forced to confront his own deadly past, weighing his love and loyalty for the royal family against his growing awareness of the cruel and oppressive world of the tsarist system. This intimate tale, played out against the epic upheavals of the age, asks powerful and disturbing questions about the nature of courage versus the need to survive and personal responsibility in the face of profound injustice.