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My Boomer dad loves to complain about how the young people aren’t interested in history anymore.
Well, sorry, Dad…but on this episode of the Wonderful Being podcast,
Angelique Fustukjian, Matt Namik, and Jack Filsinger
prove that you’re COMPLETELY WRONG!
These three guests come from the creative team for
Our American Tragedy,
a new show currently running at the 2024 Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Remember how John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln at a play?
This show tells a story I’ve never seen in a history book –
That of the actors onstage that night.
I sat down with Angelique, Matt, and Jack
to find out how they brought an evening at the theater in 1865
to audiences in 2024.
SUMMARY
0:48 Angelique (performer/producer) and Matt (performer/producer) introduce themselves and the historical people they portray during the show
2:40 Jack (director) introduces himself, and reminds us that he is also a historical person 😅
3:14 The 1865 artifact that inspired this production
6:18 How much of this show is fact, and how much is fiction?
10:30 A surprising similarity between this show and another historical 2024 Hollywood Fringe selection
11:15 The production team member who made a key difference in the historical accuracy of the performance
14:00 The absolutely batsh*t crazy insane timeline and process for writing Our American Tragedy
21:30 The key historical source book that prevented this show from being a comedy (and that Jack still needs to return to Matt)
24:00 No, but seriously – do NOT do a historical show without THIS production team member…
26:00 “Matt Lore Backstory,” or, how Matt got obsessed with Abraham Lincoln
29:15 Why Matt and Angelique left two famous historical figures out of the script
31:09 All three guests tell us why this story might be historical, but it isn’t new
39:00 How the characters in the show mirror our current U.S. political divide
41:15 What each guest wants the audience to walk away with at the end of the show