Luke Herzog

Luke Herzog

Luke Herzog is a student at Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he is studying English and Theater. In 2019, Luke was one of 20 artists in the country chosen as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and honored at the Kennedy Center.

As a writer, he partnered with a composer classmate to conceive and produce a full-length musical. An existential tragicomedy about six flawed strangers trapped in...
Luke Herzog is a student at Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he is studying English and Theater. In 2019, Luke was one of 20 artists in the country chosen as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and honored at the Kennedy Center.

As a writer, he partnered with a composer classmate to conceive and produce a full-length musical. An existential tragicomedy about six flawed strangers trapped in an elevator, GOING UP was staged at the SeaWing Theater in Pacific Grove, CA. Luke also has written several ten-minute plays and short films, as well as three published sci-fi/fantasy novels — Dragon Valley, Griffin Blade and the Bronze Finger, and Continuum.

As a performer, Luke has embodied characters on the stage ranging from a French revolutionary to an anthropomorphic candlestick. He also co-founded the improv comedy troupe Wince & Repeat. His writing honors have included a National Council of Teachers of English Writing Award, a Scholastic Gold Medal, and selection as a 2018 National YoungArts Finalist.

Plays

  • Going Up by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
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    Keyword: elevator, comedy + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, fantasy, musical, romantic comedy
    Keyword: elevator, comedy, supernatural, strangers, trapped, existential, death, heaven, hell, claustrophobia
    MUSICAL, FULL LENGTH - Six flawed strangers find themselves trapped in an elevator and evaluating their existence. When a cord snaps and the elevator plummets several stories, they are forced to come to terms with the fact that they are the recently deceased. Facing the prospect of death, they wonder: Are we going up... or down?

    A musical tragicomedy with 10 original songs. Composition by Max Afifi.
  • Intermission or Two Johns in the Star Saloon by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: biography, dark comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: President, lincoln assassination + 8 more
    Genre: biography, dark comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, period, political
    Keyword: President, lincoln assassination, assassin, John Wilkes Booth, bodyguard, Civil War, bar, History, irony, ford's theatre
    10 MINUTE - Based on real events, incompetent bodyguard John Frederick Parker wanders into a tavern during intermission at Ford’s Theater and unknowingly converses with would-be assassin John Wilkes Booth.
  • Last Laugh by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: Shakespeare, Hamlet + 8 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, dark comedy, drama, period, political
    Keyword: Shakespeare, Hamlet, Yorick, jester, comedy, castles, monarchy, skull, alas, Execution
    10 MINUTE - A dark comedy about how Yorick, the court jester of “Alas, poor Yorick” fame, met his untimely end.
  • Childhood™ by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: comedy
    ·
    Keyword: Childhood, trademark + 8 more
    Genre: comedy
    Keyword: Childhood, trademark, patents, copyright, law, kindergarten, smell, Play-Doh, lawyers, office
    10 MINUTE - Childhood™ depicts a conversation between two people who approach the concept of, yes, childhood from two divergent points of view. Cynthia, a kindergarten teacher, considers youth to be a time of limitless wonder, a sacred collection of sights, sounds, and smells that spark imagination without bounds. Manny is a patent lawyer. It is his role, whether he likes it or not, to admit that many of the...
    10 MINUTE - Childhood™ depicts a conversation between two people who approach the concept of, yes, childhood from two divergent points of view. Cynthia, a kindergarten teacher, considers youth to be a time of limitless wonder, a sacred collection of sights, sounds, and smells that spark imagination without bounds. Manny is a patent lawyer. It is his role, whether he likes it or not, to admit that many of the corporate entities that contribute those sights and sounds and smells can claim them as intellectual property. He has trademarked, for instance, the scent of Play-Doh. Cynthia finds that unconscionable. Their repartee in his patent office results in a detente of sorts as they come to an understanding that may satisfy both perspectives.