Curtains Up on "Cato" with Carpenters' Hall

On April 9, 2025, the Museum partnered with Carpenters’ Hall to present the public program AmRev Presents: Curtains Up on “Cato,” in advance of the May 2025 premiere of “CATO (Remixed)” produced by The Philadelphia Artists’ Collective (PAC), for a conversation on Revolutionary theater and connections between Rome and the Revolution. Moderated by the host of the “Adventures in Theater History” podcast, Temple University faculty, and author Peter Schmitz, the panel included Dr. Shawn David McGhee, Dr. Chelsea Phillips, Eli Lynn, and Chaz T. Martin, followed by a Q&A session with the onsite audience in the Alan B. Miller Washington’s War Tent Theater at the Museum of the American Revolution.

The panel featured framing remarks by Museum Senior Manager of Gallery Interpretation Dr. Tyler Putman and Executive Director of The Carpenters’ Company Michael Norris, as well as historical remarks to connect George Washington’s views on “Cato” to events at Valley Forge and the moral objectives of the American Revolution from Dr. Shawn David McGhee.

The program is available to watch below.

The panelists included:

• Peter Schmitz
  Host of the “Adventures in Theater History” podcast, Temple University faculty, and author of Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia

• Dr. Shawn David McGhee
  Historian and author of No Longer Subjects of the British King: The Political Transformation of Royal Subjects to Republican Citizens, 1774-1776

• Dr. Chelsea Phillips
  Associate Professor at Villanova Universty and Associate Director for Villanova Theatre

• Eli Lynn
  Playwright of “CATO (Remixed)” and Barrymore Award-winning fight director

• Chaz T. Martin
  Dramaturg of “CATO (Remixed)” and screenwriter