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

  • Human Beings (& Parts Thereof) by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    10
    ·
    Genre: comedy, docudrama/historic + 4 more
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    Keyword: superhero, marvel + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, docudrama/historic, drama, fantasy, parody/spoof, science fiction
    Keyword: superhero, marvel, comics, courtroom, courtroom drama, legal, tariffs, Fantasy, X-Men, nerd
    FULL LENGTH, TWO-ACT - A superhero courtroom drama. This play is based on a real court case from the early 2000s called “Toy Biz, Inc. v. United States.” Because of a quirk of trade law, Marvel Comics realized they could potentially save hundreds of thousands of dollars in action figure tariffs if they argued that the X-Men were not human beings. This enraged fans, and rightfully so: The X-Men were created as...
    FULL LENGTH, TWO-ACT - A superhero courtroom drama. This play is based on a real court case from the early 2000s called “Toy Biz, Inc. v. United States.” Because of a quirk of trade law, Marvel Comics realized they could potentially save hundreds of thousands of dollars in action figure tariffs if they argued that the X-Men were not human beings. This enraged fans, and rightfully so: The X-Men were created as an allegory for the Civil Rights Movement. We follow cynical U.S. Customs attorney Paige Palmer as she champions superheroes’ humanity with the help of Marvin Rooney, an idealistic comic book nerd.
  • 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
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    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.
  • We Open on a Red Desert... by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: Mars, landing + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, drama, satire, science fiction
    Keyword: Mars, landing, NASA, Hollywood, writers, first words, first steps, space, rocket, future
    ONE ACT PLAY - In the year 2037, on the eve of an historic landing, NASA secretly hires six Hollywood writers to brainstorm the first words on Mars.
  • The Nonsense Club by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    6
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 4 more
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    Keyword: five senses, sight + 8 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, fantasy, horror, immersive, period
    Keyword: five senses, sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, high school, bullying, magic, ritual
    ONE ACT PLAY - In an unnamed suburb in the 1980s, a group of students of various ages are recruited by a scheming boy named Niles to get revenge on the despicable school bully, Gus. Each of the five teens are missing one of the five senses -- sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. The play, which begins and ends in an isolated treehouse, consists of a series of vignettes as each character's story is...
    ONE ACT PLAY - In an unnamed suburb in the 1980s, a group of students of various ages are recruited by a scheming boy named Niles to get revenge on the despicable school bully, Gus. Each of the five teens are missing one of the five senses -- sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. The play, which begins and ends in an isolated treehouse, consists of a series of vignettes as each character's story is illuminated. What eventually becomes clear is that Niles's plan does not involve a simple prank... He needs each of his companions in order to recreate an Ancient Egyptian ritual to steal each of the bully's five senses.
  • 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.
  • The 7th Inversion by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 2 more
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    Keyword: rollercoaster, suspense + 5 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, horror, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: rollercoaster, suspense, amusement park, masochism, fear, ride, Hitchcock
    10 MINUTE - Heather and Brian sit next to each other as passengers on a legendary new rollercoaster, Masochist Mountain. As their car slowly ascends the slope, Heather begins to realize that the man beside her is not who he seems. For that matter, neither is the ride.
  • Last Laugh by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: adaptation, comedy + 4 more
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    Keyword: Shakespeare, Hamlet + 7 more
    Genre: adaptation, comedy, dark comedy, drama, period, political
    Keyword: Shakespeare, Hamlet, Yorick, jester, comedy, castles, monarchy, skull, Execution
    10 MINUTE - A dark comedy about how Yorick, the court jester of “Alas, poor Yorick” fame, met his untimely end.
  • 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 - ​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.
  • 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.
  • Double Hockey Sticks by Luke Herzog
    Cast: 
    1
    ·
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic + 2 more
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    Keyword: monologue, serial killer + 7 more
    Genre: biography, docudrama/historic, drama, period
    Keyword: monologue, serial killer, Oliver Crook Haugh, hockey, murder, teeth, airplane, Wilbur Wright, electric chair
    MONOLOGUE - Oliver Crook Haugh was a real man, a heinous killer with an unusual and profound impact on the history of humanity. This story is absolutely true, though some details were added for the sake of narrative. In this monologue, he tells of a hockey game from his childhood that changed the course of two lives.