Writing Samples
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Sleuthing Captain America's Shield
While the Smithsonian is referenced all the time in popular media, nothing goes hand-in-hand with the world’s largest museum complex quite like the world’s largest film franchise: the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In that fictional world, the Avengers and the Smithsonian have had a somewhat rocky relationship, including a heist by Captain America to steal his old uniform from the National Air and Space Museum. The inclusion of the Smithsonian in the MCU has led to many questions for Smithsonian staff, most prominently, “Why is the Captain America exhibit in the MCU in the National Air and Space Museum and not the National Museum of *American* History?”
While the Smithsonian is referenced all the time in popular media, nothing goes hand-in-hand with the world’s largest museum complex quite like the world’s largest film franchise: the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In that fictional world, the Avengers and the Smithsonian have had a somewhat rocky relationship, including a heist by Captain America to steal his old uniform from the National Air and Space Museum. The inclusion of the Smithsonian in the MCU has led to many questions for Smithsonian staff, most prominently, “Why is the Captain America exhibit in the MCU in the National Air and Space Museum and not the National Museum of *American* History?”
Review: The Snowy Day at Adventure Theatre MTC and a dad’s-eye view of TYA shows
The Shark, my desultory 3 year old, was hopping from place to place in Glen Echo Park in anticipation of seeing The Snowy Day and Other Stories, a musical adaptation of one of the most popular books of recent memory. The only thing that was missing, according to her, was snow. “Maybe they’ll have snow inside! After all it is The Snowy Day,” I pleaded, desperately trying to get her near the theater where the show was scheduled to start in five minutes. It turned out to be enough motivator, and into the theater we went as she instantly became enthralled by the giant storybook projection center stage.
The Shark, my desultory 3 year old, was hopping from place to place in Glen Echo Park in anticipation of seeing The Snowy Day and Other Stories, a musical adaptation of one of the most popular books of recent memory. The only thing that was missing, according to her, was snow. “Maybe they’ll have snow inside! After all it is The Snowy Day,” I pleaded, desperately trying to get her near the theater where the show was scheduled to start in five minutes. It turned out to be enough motivator, and into the theater we went as she instantly became enthralled by the giant storybook projection center stage.
BWW Reviews: DANI GIRL is an Exquisite Mix of Laughter and Tears
The last time I heard a song in a hospital was a little more than eight months ago. They don't play songs in hospitals, just the beeps of monitors and the whirr of diagnostic machines. But, at that particular time in that particular place, there was a little music. Seventh floor ICU in the Gudelsky Wing of the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. About 10 o'clock on a Sunday night in a spacious private room, for a hospital. The only people in that room were me and my grandmother's husband. And, here, my grandmother lying in a hospital bed, comatose and dying.
The last time I heard a song in a hospital was a little more than eight months ago. They don't play songs in hospitals, just the beeps of monitors and the whirr of diagnostic machines. But, at that particular time in that particular place, there was a little music. Seventh floor ICU in the Gudelsky Wing of the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. About 10 o'clock on a Sunday night in a spacious private room, for a hospital. The only people in that room were me and my grandmother's husband. And, here, my grandmother lying in a hospital bed, comatose and dying.
Author Page on DC Theatre Scene for Alan Katz
Alan Katz is dramaturg, critic, epicure, and occasional director in the DC area. Alan has worked for a number of theaters and playwrights around the DC area including WSC Avant Bard, The Inkwell, the Folger Theater, and now with We Happy Few. He specializes in new play and adaptation dramaturgy, but he also reads Ancient Greek and works with Shakespeare every day as a librarian at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Alan helped create the BFA in Dramaturgy option at Carnegie Mellon and holds his MA in Theater History from Catholic University. He also excels at being a translator, poet, dog whisperer, house manager, Magic: the Gathering player, and he does the best roast chicken you've ever had in your life.
Alan Katz is dramaturg, critic, epicure, and occasional director in the DC area. Alan has worked for a number of theaters and playwrights around the DC area including WSC Avant Bard, The Inkwell, the Folger Theater, and now with We Happy Few. He specializes in new play and adaptation dramaturgy, but he also reads Ancient Greek and works with Shakespeare every day as a librarian at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Alan helped create the BFA in Dramaturgy option at Carnegie Mellon and holds his MA in Theater History from Catholic University. He also excels at being a translator, poet, dog whisperer, house manager, Magic: the Gathering player, and he does the best roast chicken you've ever had in your life.
Nero/Psuedo: Gods and Emperors
When I am dramaturging plays that are from or are set in the ancient world, one of the most difficult concepts to communicate is the ancient view of religion and gods. The problem is that the modern mind has been poisoned against “paganism” by a fire hose of monotheistic religions that have burned, tortured, bought, and conquered their way into domination of the modern mind (Did I say poisoned? I meant “gently influenced.”). Ancient Greek and Roman deities had functions that were significantly different from the way we envision divine beings today...
When I am dramaturging plays that are from or are set in the ancient world, one of the most difficult concepts to communicate is the ancient view of religion and gods. The problem is that the modern mind has been poisoned against “paganism” by a fire hose of monotheistic religions that have burned, tortured, bought, and conquered their way into domination of the modern mind (Did I say poisoned? I meant “gently influenced.”). Ancient Greek and Roman deities had functions that were significantly different from the way we envision divine beings today...
Nero/Psuedo: The Writing on the Wall
There are quite a few historical and literary sources (Tacitus, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio) that survive from the first century, the period in which Nero/Pseudo is set. They describe the reign of Nero with derision, and gleefully recount his fall as the just and popular end of a tyrant’s rule. However, as most historians can tell you, most of what historians write is bullshit.
Historians often project their own opinions (and dare I say, insecurities) back onto history as they write, and are rarely able to capture the true feeling of the time. For gods’ sakes, Tacitus was 12 years old when Nero fell, and he is the historian who wrote closest to Nero’s time as Emperor. Historically, Nero also has the difficulty of being one of the most notorious oppressors of Christianity, who eventually won out as the official religious demagogues of the Roman Empire. And history is written by the winners...
There are quite a few historical and literary sources (Tacitus, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio) that survive from the first century, the period in which Nero/Pseudo is set. They describe the reign of Nero with derision, and gleefully recount his fall as the just and popular end of a tyrant’s rule. However, as most historians can tell you, most of what historians write is bullshit.
Historians often project their own opinions (and dare I say, insecurities) back onto history as they write, and are rarely able to capture the true feeling of the time. For gods’ sakes, Tacitus was 12 years old when Nero fell, and he is the historian who wrote closest to Nero’s time as Emperor. Historically, Nero also has the difficulty of being one of the most notorious oppressors of Christianity, who eventually won out as the official religious demagogues of the Roman Empire. And history is written by the winners...
Nero/Pseudo: The World of the Greek Taberna
One of my my main jobs as Nero/Pseudo dramaturg is to help flesh out the context of the production. In this particular case, that context includes the world of first century Greece, the seedy and sexy world of glam rock, the violent and occasionally hilarious antics of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, and how this new production fits into (or disrupts) the current DC theater scene. But before I can start digging into the kaleidoscope of influences harmonized in this play, I need to start with the most essential and practical element of the context of Nero/Pseudo: where the hell is the play set?...
One of my my main jobs as Nero/Pseudo dramaturg is to help flesh out the context of the production. In this particular case, that context includes the world of first century Greece, the seedy and sexy world of glam rock, the violent and occasionally hilarious antics of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, and how this new production fits into (or disrupts) the current DC theater scene. But before I can start digging into the kaleidoscope of influences harmonized in this play, I need to start with the most essential and practical element of the context of Nero/Pseudo: where the hell is the play set?...
Caesar and Dada: Program Notes
A landscape is not a description; in words, objects are born, everything is rebuilt. There, between the lines, a constant evocation, a mirage that up to the reader the reality of images. And even here the reality is exceeded, the passion of the [author] left shivering with fever art. They give the truth a little nervous their emotion. Every detail comes to life as a tremble of procedure. The pages become real creatures, all of them panting, excessively alive.
A landscape is not a description; in words, objects are born, everything is rebuilt. There, between the lines, a constant evocation, a mirage that up to the reader the reality of images. And even here the reality is exceeded, the passion of the [author] left shivering with fever art. They give the truth a little nervous their emotion. Every detail comes to life as a tremble of procedure. The pages become real creatures, all of them panting, excessively alive.
No Man's Land: Program Notes
Who is Harold Pinter?
One of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, Harold Pinter was born in London in 1930. At 18, he entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, later leaving after being arrested several times. He wrote poetry, acted, and attended school for a few years, discovering Beckett in the process, but he didn’t begin writing plays until The Room in 1957. His dark and psychological style, full of ambiguous threats and mysterious tension, first received critical puzzlement, then praise.
Who is Harold Pinter?
One of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, Harold Pinter was born in London in 1930. At 18, he entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, later leaving after being arrested several times. He wrote poetry, acted, and attended school for a few years, discovering Beckett in the process, but he didn’t begin writing plays until The Room in 1957. His dark and psychological style, full of ambiguous threats and mysterious tension, first received critical puzzlement, then praise.