Nero/Pseudo: Meet Alan Katz

(As part of my blogging about Nero/Pseudo here at Balkans via Bohemia, I will be introducing readers to members of the cast and creative team of the show.) 

Nero/Pseudo is very fortunate Alan Katz as the production's dramaturg. He is a librarian at the Folger Shakespeare Library. His knowledge of the classical era is pretty amazing (he reads ancient Greek), and he's revved up to speed on the magical world of glam rock as well.  He has previously worked as a dramaturg for WSC Avant Bard on the company's terrific production of Ally Currin's Caesar and Dada and Harold Pinter's No Man's Land.
to have

Alan is also a translator, poet, dog whisperer, house manager and Tweeter (@dcdramaturg). He will contribute guest posts to Balkans via Bohemia in the next few weeks about various aspects of the play, but first he had to answer the playwright's three questions about the Nero/Pseudo experience.

Who is your favorite person/god from antiquity?

The awesomest person from antiquity is totally Diogenes, the Cynical philosopher. He lived in a jar and didn't take shit from anyone. Alexander the Great once asked him what he was doing in a pile of bones, and he said, "I'm looking for the bones of your father, but I can't tell them from the bones of a slave." Also, he took a shit in the theater. What a guy.

What's the strangest fact about the ancient world or glam rock that you've learned from this experience?

My favorite fact I've learned is about glam rock artist Alice Cooper. He performed with a freaking boa constrictor wrapped around his body. That's so hot.


If you were Emperor for a day, what would be your first decree? 

If I was emperor for the day, my first decree would be easy: declare war on Canada. Those maple-syrup-chugging hockey-lovers would never see it coming. Plus we could possess all of the poutine. I'd probably make weed legal, too, so we could dominate all of Canada's biggest industries.

Nero/Pseudo previews open at The Shop at Fort Fringe on Friday May 2. Find out more about the play at WSC Avant Bard. Tickets are now on sale.