A post-show conversation is a chance for audiences to discuss a production with members of the Arena Stage artistic team and the show’s cast. They can cover a variety of topics, including the story’s themes and relevance, artistic choices made for the production, the actors’ processes, and audience reflections and questions.

We offer post-show conversations following select performances for every Arena production, including these special discussions with experts around topics and themes explored in Unknown Soldier.

Wednesday, May 1 @ 12pm

Dr. Allison S. Finkelstein

Senior Historian, Arlington National Cemetery

Allison S. Finkelstein serves as Senior Historian at Arlington National Cemetery, where her work encompasses the creation of museum exhibits, publications, interpretive programs, educational materials, and more. She earned her Ph.D. in U.S. History from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she also studied historic preservation. Her first book, Forgotten Veterans, Invisible Memorials: How American Women Commemorated the Great War, 1917-1945, was published by the University of Alabama Press in 2021. An expert on the First World War and an active member of the Northern Virginia community theater scene, she is passionate about using the arts to teach about the past.

Thursday, May 2 @ 8pm

Christopher W.T. Miller, MD

Associate Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Christopher W.T. Miller, MD is a psychiatrist and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He trained in adult psychiatry at the University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt Residency Program, graduating in 2012. He completed training in adult psychoanalysis at the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis. He is the Director of Psychotherapy Education for the University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt Psychiatry Residency Program. He has published and lectured on educational frameworks for teaching psychotherapy, on the intersection between the neurosciences and psychotherapy, and on psychodynamic dimensions of film and literature. He is the author of The Object Relations Lens: A Psychodynamic Framework for the Beginning Therapist.

Adam Chanler-Berat, Taylor Witt, Candice Shedd-Thompson, Nehal Joshi, Sumié Yotsukura, and Ronald Joe Williams in Unknown Soldier. Photo by Teresa Castracane.