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
    ·
    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.
  • Pulling the Switch by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Death Penalty, capital punishment + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, political, tragedy
    Keyword: Death Penalty, capital punishment, last meal, peanut butter, Sandwich, PB&J, cooking, prison, death row, electric chair
    ONE ACT PLAY - Paul Burton Judd is sentenced to die via electric chair. Two prison cooks (inmates themselves) are tasked with prepping his requested last meal: a simple peanut butter & jelly sandwich. When the cooks discover that Judd has a severe peanut allergy and is attempting to take his own life hours before his execution, they are forced into a high-stakes debate about whether or not to proceed. As...
    ONE ACT PLAY - Paul Burton Judd is sentenced to die via electric chair. Two prison cooks (inmates themselves) are tasked with prepping his requested last meal: a simple peanut butter & jelly sandwich. When the cooks discover that Judd has a severe peanut allergy and is attempting to take his own life hours before his execution, they are forced into a high-stakes debate about whether or not to proceed. As the prisoners wrestle with the question of forgiveness, it soon becomes clear that one of the men is still struggling to forgive himself.
  • Meteoric by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: comedians, backstage + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, tragedy
    Keyword: comedians, backstage, apocalypse, stand-up comedy, headliner, fame, meteor, ego, argument, twist
    ONE ACT PLAY - Backstage at the Starburst Chuckle Hut, rising comedian Ankor Chatterjee quarrels with Will Fallow, his under-appreciated opening act. Then come reports of an incoming disaster that might be described as a cosmic joke. It's not funny... Then again, maybe a punchline is the best way to close out the act.
  • Intermission or Two Johns in the Star Saloon by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: biography, dark comedy + 4 more
    ·
    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.
  • ExorcisZoom: New Host by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: comedy, faith-based + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: exorcist, exorcism + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, faith-based, fantasy, horror, satire, zoom
    Keyword: exorcist, exorcism, demon, devil, priest, possession, zoom, pandemic, working remotely, horror
    10 MINUTE PLAY - ​In 2020, working from home was hard enough. It's even harder when your job involves exorcising demons. A Zoom-impaired priest attempts to guide Alan, a terrified husband, through the process of ridding his wife of Beelzebub.
  • Last Laugh by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 4 more
    ·
    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.