Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Nero/Pseudo: Meet Sarah Ripper

(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. Today it's our amazing movement coach Sarah Ripper.)

So much of the joy in watching a play you've written take shape is watching actors move and make the words and gestures real.

Nero/Pseudo director Patrick Pearson asked Sarah Ripper to be the production's movement coach, and her talent and positivity and energy are rippling through our production.

Sarah earned her M.A. in Educational Theatre from NYU, and received her B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from Sam Houston State University. In 2008-2009 she toured Asia in Cinderella (Ensemble), starring Tony Award Winner Lea Salonga. Her original work credits include Looking For Billy Haines (Swing), Forward Flux's production of Robot Songs (Woman #1) at Theatre Lab in NYC, and the world premier of Deborah Zoe Laufer's META (co-choreographer) at NYU Steinhardt. Sarah is also a teaching artist at Acting Out! in Brooklyn, NY.

I was delighted that Sarah was willing to answer the playwright's three questions about the Nero/Pseudo experience:

Who is your favorite person/god from antiquity?

The Goddess Demeter. She was the nurturing, protective, and agricultural goddess...basically mother Earth. I find it fascinating that when her daughter was held captive by Hades four months a year, she took her vengeance on the world and created winter. Don't mess with Demeter!

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

When doing some research of female glam rock artists, I came across the name Jayne County, who was rock's first transsexual singer. I find it strange that I never heard of Jayne until now. Check out her song and performance of "Are You Man Enough to Be a Woman?"

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

My first decree would be that everyone would love and treat others as they would love to be treated. Love, peace, and rock 'n roll!

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. 

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Nero/Pseudo: Meet Laura Schlachtmeyer

(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. Today I feature stage manager Laura Schlachtmeyer.) 

Nothing really happens on a production without the stage manager. Our production of Nero/Pseudo at WSC Avant Bard is extraordinarily fortunate to have landed Laura Schlachtmeyer -- a recent arrival in DC -- to make our chariots run on time.

This is how fortunate we are: Laura received the 2011 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Stage Manager. It is the only such award for stage managers in the United States.

Laura has worked from coast to coast as a stage manager, from Tony N' Tina's Wedding (Chicago) to Killing My Lobster sketch comedy (San Francisco) to a position as a technical collaborator with the New York Neo-Futurists.

Laura is also a playwright whose short plays have been featured in the EstroGenius and InGenius festivals at Manhattan Theatre Source. She has also produced several independent sci-fi feature films. (Yes, they are on Netflix and iTunes!)

Even closer to the playwright's heart, however, is that Laura has translated plays by two of his favorite German dramatists: Georg Büchner (Woyzeck) and Ernst Toller (Masse Mensch). Both translations were also produced at Manhattan Theatre Source.

Would Laura consider a trifecta and translate Odon von Horvath's late (and still untranslated into English) play Pompeji: Komödie eines Erdbeben? I haven't asked her yet. Perhaps she's had enough of Rome. But she did answer the playwright's three questions about the Nero/Pseudo experience.

Who is your favorite person/god from antiquity?

I like all the monsters, as a general group. It would be awesome and scary to live in the same world as all those Scyllas and Charybdises and Hydras and Sirens and Gorgons and Minotaurs and Sphinxes.

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

Auguries are neat. It's such a natural human urge to want to predict the future and get guidance for our choices. And there's something beautiful about the idea that all life is connected, to the point that human events can be connected to natural events like birds in flight. I can't exactly think of a glam-rock equivalent. But I think we all know the feeling when that certain song comes on the radio, and we interpret it as a good or bad omen. (People still listen to the radio, right? Sometimes? In the car maybe?)

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

See, the hardest part of being a supreme ruler is to feel sure that your decrees are really helping people. That's why as Emperor I would make keys illegal. (I wouldn't concern myself with what keys are replaced by, if anything. Biometrics. Voice recognition. Abolition of property ownership. Whatever.) That way I would be sure that everyone gets at least 5 minutes back in their day -- the time they would have otherwise spent looking for their keys. People would get where they were going on time, productivity would go up, and the welfare of my Empire would be secured.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Nero/Pseudo: Dress for Success

(One of the terrific things about writing a play that gleefully mashes up the ancient world and the age of glam rock is that it really encourages the designers on team let their imaginations run wild. That's been true for Nero/Pseudo costume designer Elizabeth Ennis, who has provided a special guest post for Balkans via Bohemia on her process in designing the costumes for the play.)

I love anachronism. I really do. When used intentionally, I think it can inspire a lot of creativity. So when I get a chance to do a "mash-up" of time periods when costuming a show, I run with it. This is actually my second "mash-up" show for WSC Avant Bard (back in November I costumed King John as a cross between Medieval England and Cold War America), so I've taken this approach before -- looking at the Ancient world through the lens of the 20th Century.

In the case of Nero/Pseudo, we're imagining how a 1970's glam rocker might have interpreted Roman history. For my research I looked at movies and TV shows that were produced in the late 60's to early 70's and that were set in Ancient Greece or Rome. My favorite material actually comes from Star Trek: The Original Series. I've been a Trekkie since middle school, and I especially love the costume designs by William Ware Theiss. He did some incredibly imaginative work. There were several episodes when the Enterprise crew encountered worlds and characters from ancient history, and that's where I got a lot of my inspiration. Theiss made all these gorgeously draped dressed in psychedelic prints and shimmering lamé fabrics. And of course, over-the-top hair and make-up. That's what I'm aiming for in Nero/Pseudo.

Elizabeth also cheerfully answered the playwright's three questions about the Nero/Pseudo experience:


Who is your favorite person/god from antiquity?

Themistocles. One of my favorite things I learned in 11th grade World Civ was the story of his victory over Xerxes at Salamis during the Greco-Persian War. It involved strategy, subterfuge, and the exploitation of Xerxes' ego. I remember thinking it was the coolest, cleverest, most inspiring piece of history I had ever heard. Somehow I don't think 300: Rise of an Empire did it justice.

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

For me personally, the strangest fact is that I've made it this far with out becoming totally obsessed with David Bowie. It was overdue, and now I can't stop listening to "Life on Mars." And what a fashion icon he was! I want this suit. Who doesn't?

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

More sequins. FOR EVERYONE.

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. 

Friday, April 25, 2014

Nero/Pseudo: Meet John-Michael d’Haviland

(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.) 

One of the real pleasures of the Nero/Pseudo process has been getting to know our music director John-Michael d’Haviland. He's got a terrific ear and has worked with the actors closely to get them as a glam as possible before we start our previews.

John-Michael holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Music from George Mason University. Since 2001, he has received twelve WATCH (Washington Area Theater Community Honors) Award nominations for “Outstanding Music Direction.” In 2011, he received a WATCH AWARD for “Outstanding Music Direction” of Rent and again in 2013, for A Little Night Music. Also an active actor and musical theater performer, some of his favorite roles include Coalhouse Walker, Jr., (Ragtime), Noah “Horse” Simmons, (The Full Monty), Jake (Side Show), Eddie Mackrel (The Wild Party, LaChiusa) and Tom Collins (Rent).

John-Michael also has worked at the Keegan Theatre, Arena Stage, and Round House Theater as a musical theater and vocal instructor. He trained at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut.

His answers to the playwright's three questions about the Nero/Pseudo process are succinct but deep. Very much like JM is in the rehearsal room.

Who is your favorite person/god from antiquity?

Haha...random one -- the 100-handed ones, the Hekatonkheires. Been fascinated by those giants, since I was a kid.

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

How musically diverse glam-rock is and the outrageously awesome fashion that emerged from it.

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

Teachers and artists would, forever, be paid in the same salary range as professional basketball and football coaches.

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

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Nero/Pseudo: The Writing on The Wall

(As part of my blogging about Nero/Pseudo here at Balkans via Bohemia, I have also asked Alan Katz -- the dramaturg of the show -- to share some of his wisdom and wit about the ancient world as guest posts on the blog. This is his second look inside the world of the play ]. If you missed his first post on the world of the Greek taberna, it's here.)

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.

But historians aren’t the only source from which we can draw information about the reign of Nero. Archaeology, especially in Pompeii (destroyed by volcano only a decade after Nero’s fall), has uncovered a great source on Nero: graffiti.

Graffiti was common in Rome and Roman territories, and it expressed exactly that, the common opinion and will of the people. We can learn amazing things about the use of graffiti in Roman culture from what has been preserved through the ages either by being buried and built over or through the preserving lava of Pompeii. Romans used graffiti like Craigslist (“A person interested in renting this property should contact Primus, the slave of Gnaeus”), Tinder (“Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you”), Yelp (“What a lot of tricks you use to deceive, innkeeper. You sell water but drink unmixed wine”), or Facebook (“The man I am having dinner with is a barbarian.”). Graffiti was also had its more traditional use. Namely, drawing penises.

This diversity applies to graffiti about Nero as well. In Pompeii, there were over 100 expressions of praise of various politicians throughout the city, and more than half of them were praise for Nero. But the mob is a fickle beast, and Nero took a hit in popularity when he drunkenly kicked his pregnant wife Poppaea, killing mother and child. After this incident, there is graffiti like Nero Alcaemon Orestes, a play on his name Nero Claudius Caesar, referencing mother-killers of myth, also referencing Nero’s murder of his own mother, Agrippina, after several failed attempts.

In Greece, however, where Nero/Pseudo is set, Nero had a special reason for being popular. A year before he fell from power, Nero took a grand tour of Greece. While he made some unpopular moves, like forcing many of the four-year cycle games (like the Olympics) to happen during his visit while he declared himself the winner, he also was incredibly generous to the Greek people. Nero not only gave allowances of grain away to Greek citizens, but also “gave freedom to Greece.” In this context, “freedom” means that Greece was no longer gave tribute to Rome and its denizens had extra rights. The Greeks, once the greatest power of the Mediterranean, were stoked to be freed from Roman oppression. So stoked in fact, that Greek coins with Nero’s face on them had “Jupiter the Liberator” stamped on the back of them.

But the Romans were pissed. Not only had Nero Greek-ifed Rome by changing the architecture and elevating the status of performers, he was giving rights that once belonged exclusively to Italians to the Greeks! For many Romans, this was the last straw. So while Nero was away in Greece, plots began to solidify against him in Rome, leading to his downfall about year after he came back. When the dust cleared from the civil wars after Nero’s downfall, the new Emperor Vespasian revoked Greece’s free status, a move that the Greeks knew would happen after they lost their beloved Nero.

The Greeks never forgot or stopped supporting Nero, and when they heard rumors of his fall, worry turned to hope turned to desperation. These rumors are flew around at the opening of Nero/Pseudo, when a woman sings the play's opening song, including the lines: “Oh, Greece, once free/Doomed to be/Subject again to slavery!”

So it is no surprise that it was in Greece where more rumors, this time of Nero’s triumphant return to Greece, started to be passed around. Then a lyre-player who looked an awful lot like Nero took the stage…

If you want to see what happens next, you have to see Nero/Pseudo!

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.

(Image of Nero graffiti from Pompeii from Wikipedia Commons.)

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Nero/Pseudo: Meet Ryan Alan Jones

(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.) 

Over the course of the Nero/Pseudo rehearsal process the role of our amazing Ensemble in the show just grows and grows. You've met Brian McDermott and Alani Kravitz -- now meet the third member of this amazing group: Ryan Alan Jones.

Ryan is making his WSC Avant Bard debut in Nero/Pseudo. You may have seen him as Melchior in Spring Awakening (Kensington Arts Theatre), Young Lad/Ben Nicholson in Pitmen Painters (1st Stage), Marquis of Dorset in Richard III (Virginia Shakespeare Festival), and the title character in Spooky Action Theatre’s Helen Hayes-nominated production of Optimism! or Voltaire’s Candide. He's got a website going at www.ryanalanjones.com so you can keep up with all his news.

Ryan gladly answered the playwright's three questions about the Nero/Pseudo experience.

Who is your favorite person/god from antiquity?

As a person of the theatre I have undying ties to Dionysus (or Bacchus, depending on who you talk to). The holy festivals of Dionysus celebrated life and were the seeds of theatre. They incorporated dance, song, mask, puppetry, and of course copious amounts of alcohol. There is a Greek word ‘temenos’, a noun, which was a parcel of land dedicated to the worship of the gods. Sometimes this was a great and glorious temple, sometimes a simple grove of trees in the forest. In the case of Dionysus, these were the first theaters. I guess I just love that we are rooted in this sacred tradition. Every time we walk out onstage, we are celebrating life.

That being said, I don’t know a whole lot about Dionysus himself. A god I connect to personally is Anansi, a West African god often personified as a spider. He has this deceitful, mischievous thing going on, but he is also the storyteller of the pantheon. A trickster with a silver-tongue, he can convince anyone to do anything. In fact, he came to be a storyteller by tricking and capturing several other gods and then selling them to the sky god (think Zeus) in exchange for all the stories the sky god possessed. What I really like about him is he is this small, vulnerable spider, but he uses his intelligence and guile to prevail over creatures more powerful than himself.

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

I learned that so frequently in Greek mythology is someone torn apart, limb from limb, by a crazed mob that they actually have a word for it: sparagmos. Funnily enough, most of the examples of sparagmos occur during the festivals of Dionysus. So you have this awesome celebration of humanity and life devolving into something animalistic and deadly. Crazy.

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

I would decriminalize cannabis.

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.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Nero/Pseudo: Meet Lee Liebeskind

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.)

If you're involved in DC theatre then you likely know Lee Liebeskind as an actor, director, producer and avid member of the national theatre Twitter community (‏@LeeLiebeskind) We are so lucky to have him in the role of Stratocles in Nero/Pseudo.

Lee played Lord Burley in the truly magical WSC Avant Bard production of Schiller's Mary Stuart. He has also appeared (among many roles) at Rorschach Theatre in Neverwhere,1001, Dream Sailors, and Rough Magic; at Studio Second Stage in Astro Boy and The God of Comics; at Forum Theatre in Antigone; at Constellation Theatre Company in The Marriage of Figaro; and in Dog and Pony DC's Punch: thats the way we do it. He is a two-tour veteran of The National Players.

His credits as a director and producer are just as impressive. Lee is a founding member as well as the producing director of The Inkwell, and was recently a company member of Rorschach Theatre. He has directed for both The Source Festival and Rorschach Theatre.

Impressive as Lee is, however, he did not escape the playwright's three questions about the Nero/Pseudo experience.

Who is your favorite person/god from antiquity?

 My favorite person/god from antiquity is any of the trickster gods. Anasi, Coyote, Loki, Monkey King, Puck.  I like the gods that played tricks on other gods and let them know that being all powerful didn't mean they weren't untouchable.

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

The strangest fact about Glam Rock that I learned is that it was such a short period in music.  That it really only lasted for about 5 years but effected music for about 15 years after.  That the influence left its mark on everything from pop music to punk to heavy metal.

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

If I was Emperor for a day, my first decree would be to fully fund the arts and that every Friday is Ice Cream Friday.

 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.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Nero/Pseudo: Meet Alani Kravitz


(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.) 

Alani Kravitz is one of the members of the ensemble of Nero/Pseudo -- a trio of actors who have completely wowed all of us with their smart, hilarious effervescence. She is a native DC resident who's been back in the 202 for two years after getting a BFA in Musical Theatre from Syracuse University. You may have seen here in DC in Faction of Fools/NextStop's Pinocchio! WSC Avant Bard's Friendship Betrayed, and Infinite Jest's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at Capital Fringe. Her other credits include The Cradle Will Rock and Lysistrata (Syracuse University); Shipwrecked! (Syracuse University/Edinburgh Fringe Festival); and A Phoenix Too Frequent (Unexpected Stage).

Alani was kind enough to play along with our three questions about the Nero/Pseudo experience.

Who is your favorite person/god from antiquity?

Dionysus (Greek god of wine, parties, debauchery, you get the picture), hands down. He had rabid devotees (almost entirely women) who would follow him and drunkenly frolic. They were also some of the most intense worshippers, as they would tear those who doubted him to shreds in an ecstatic trance. Dionysus was not a god to be denied, as 'frivolous' as his dominion seemed to be. The festivals dedicated to Dionysus eventually involved loose skits, and those skits eventually became plays, so you could say Dionysus is one of the reasons why we have theatre today. Also, he was the god of wine, and I happen to like wine very much.

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

I found the worlds of Nero and just-post-Nero Rome and 70s glam rock fascinatingly similar. For one thing, there were similar feelings of political unrest, and a dire need for change (either to stability or anarchy). It's also incredibly interesting to me how Nero as a singer and performer was idolized to the point of deification. The Augustiani (Ryan Alan Jones, Brian McDermott and myself in the show) would be essentially his 'roadies' and actually lock the doors when he performed to keep anyone from leaving, and beat anyone who didn't clap hard enough. In the world of glam rock, you had these crazed teenage fanatics who, in their own way, worshipped their favorites the same way.


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

If I were Empress for a day, I think I would decree a maximum amount of hours per week people can work. I get very disheartened by the amount of people who have told me they don't have time for the things they want to do, because of the things they 'have to do'. That becomes an accepted reality. Sure, we all need to make a living, but I wonder sometimes if the ends justify the means. So, that is what I'd do. Dionysus would back me up, I'm sure.

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

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Nero/Pseudo: The World of the Greek Taberna

(As part of my blogging about Nero/Pseudo here at Balkans via Bohemia, I have also asked Alan Katz -- the dramaturg of the show -- to share some of his wisdom and wit about the ancient world as guest posts on the blog. This is his first look inside the world of the play.) 

In taberna quando sumus, 
non curamus quid sit humus, 
sed ad ludum properamus, 
cui semper insudamus. 
quid agatur in taberna 
ubi nummus est pincerna, 
hoc est opus ut quaeratur; 
si quid loquar, audiatur. 

-- Carmina Burana

“When we’re in the tavern,
We don’t give a fuck for grit
But we rush to gamble
We always sweat over it.
What goes on in the tavern
Where money brings the cup,
If you want to find out
You better listen up”

(Loose translation by Alan Katz)


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?

The first half of Nero/Pseudo takes place in a taverna. As you may know (or hope), the holy tradition of getting shit-housed on beverages made of  fermented grains and fruits has been around for thousands of years. Accompanying peoples’ desire to drink has been the desire to do said drinking  far away from the domestic abode, which is associated with the distasteful responsibilities of things like spouses, children, and laundry. On the face of it, a taverna is exactly that place of escape: just a shop, usually selling wine, food, and a place to fall asleep, perhaps in one’s own vomit.

But, much like Shakespeare’s Boar’s Head Tavern in Eastcheap, the taverna of first century Greece was much more than a place to spend your whole paycheck on some old wreck. Imagine walking down an ancient Roman street. There’s a square cut out of a building on street-level, and from that aperture music, raucous swearing, and the smell of roasted meat float down the street. When you walk in, the floor is covered with chairs and tables, except for a stand in the center that the drunks are trying to knock down by flicking the dregs of their wine (Roman and Greek wine was unfiltered at the time, so the bottom was full of half-crushed grapes and sticks).  The walls are covered with graffiti of a classic tenor with verses like “Here Stratocles puked in my wine jug. He owes me 5 sestertii.” or “Chrysis makes the boys moan like girls.” The ceiling is hung with produce and meat of a far higher quality than ever would be served by the proprietor.

The people are the most interesting thing, though. The taverna is one of the few places where slaves and freemen could intermingle freely, and you might see a slave making a deal to tutor a rich man’s son to earn enough to buy his freedom. Musicians would probably be playing, either amateurs taking a crack at the public or pros brought in by the owner. There will probably be people tossing dice (actual knucklebones around this time), and you could find some of the shadiest and lowest class characters of first century Greece there: actors, hucksters, trickster slaves, low-ranking soldiers, and musicians. It would actually be surprising not to see women, especially ones selling services that only they can sell.

The fact that one of the characters in Nero/Pseudo, Chrysis, is a woman who runs a taverna is a neat touch for this play. We don’t have much information regarding who actually ran taverns, but it is a solid bet that a woman who ran a taverna would have to be a serious badass. Richard takes advantage of this interesting persona by making her essential to the main con of the play, but never letting go of the threat that she is under as a marginalized member of society. Chrysis just wants to preserve the meager place for which she worked her ass off, but the circumstances of the play take her a place she never expected.

Where does she go? Come see Nero/Pseudo and find out!

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. 

(Image of dice players from Pompeii from Wikipedia Commons.)

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

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. 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Nero/Pseudo: Meet Brian McDermott

(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.) 

Brian McDermott is a member of our terrific ensemble for the show. They play a lot of parts and have dazzled all of us -- and cracked us up -- from the first rehearsal.

Brian is a Marine Corps veteran and a student at George Mason University where he studies acting, writing, and directing with big dreams of one day making a payment on his student loans. He's been featured in Molotov Theatre Group's Normal, Quotidian Theatre Company's The Iceman Cometh, and Prince George's Little Theatre's Over the River and Through the Woods. He will sticking around at Fringe this summer, appearing in an opera called A Fire In Water presented by Silver Finch Arts.

Brian says he enjoys studying whisky, music, language, and food in his spare time. He also answered the three questions I'm posing to all members of the creative team:

Who is your favorite person/god from antiquity?

When I first started reaching back and exploring my Celtic roots, I really got into the mythology surrounding the Celtic Sun-God, Lugh. He is often referred to as the King of Celtic gods and is also seen as a master of all arts. I also really dig the mythos around the Greek god Dionysus -- the god of wine, merriment, ecstasy, and theatre. What's there not to love about that résumé?

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

One of the most interesting things I came across during this experience was that Nero convinced the Greeks to delay the Olympic games for a whole year so that he could compete in them, and to include artistic competitions such as singing and acting. It's rumoured that Nero was so pleased with the experience that he declared Greece to be exempt from paying taxes to Rome, which had been ruling Greece for around 200 years at that time.

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

Four day weekends. Definitely.

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

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Nero/Pseudo: The Washington DC World Premiere


Well... I can finally announce it. My play. Nero/Pseudo, (with music by the amazing Jon Langford and Jim Elkington) will have its world premiere in a production by WSC Avant Bard (formerly Washington Shakespeare Company) at The Shop at Fort Fringe in Washington DC.

The opening night is Wednesday, May 7. (There will be a number of preview performances starting May 2.) The show closes Sunday, June 1.

It's very exciting to see a play that I started on a hot summer day in 2009 finally hit the stage. The process has been a long but fruitful one, including a May 2012 reading at Artisphere and a March 2013 reading at the Emerging Artists Theatre's New Works Festival.

Balkans via Bohemia is going to be a busy place over the next few weeks. I will be blogging about the show a little bit and introducing you to the creative team that's making it all happen. This will also be the place to look for guest posts from our dramaturg, Alan Katz, who will be dropping some deep classical knowledge. We might also leak a song or two from the production and have a contest or two.

Tickets are now on sale. Hope to see you there!

(Image: Graffiti of Nero from the Domus Tiberiana.)