Then again, Nasser is not exactly the average Dartmouth student. Instead of following the usual route of taking courses during his senior year and graduating with a major in an academic department, he is pursuing a senior fellowship. Nasser is writing "Philistines!," a full-length play about Albert Einstein that combines academic aspects of both science and theater.
"Einstein really wasn't that different from most students here," Nasser said. "He liked to hang out with his friends and talk about anything from philosophy to music to pranks they would pull on each other."
After taking Playwriting 1 his freshman year, Nasser started using theater as a way to understand the complicated ideas he was learning about in classes about subjects like artificial intelligence and astronomy.
"Distilling weird ideas through the interactions of my plays, various characters helped me understand topics better than if I had read strictly from a textbook," he explained.
The idea for "Philistines!" was sparked from many sources, including books like "Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty that Causes Havoc" (2001) by Arthur Miller. The book explores themes of artistic discovery, which Nasser tapped into while writing his play.
"I see 'Philistines!' as taking a very human and holistic approach to the topic of discovery, whether scientific or artistic," Nasser said. "Everyone thinks Einstein was an automatic genius, but he had his problems, too. For the two years after he graduated college, he was jobless, enjoying the ramifications of a low GPA and barely squeaking by."
Research for the play took Nasser all the way from Washington, D.C. to New York City. He spent many days attending various theatrical productions and looking up information about Einstein's life in order to create a historically, scientifically and emotionally accurate portrayal of the scientist.
"I feel like the play needs to be completely accurate in so many ways -- not just as a tribute to Einstein but also as a pact with my audience," Nasser. "Theater is essentially people in front of people. There's a contract to engage the audience by using stuff they can relate to."
Nasser enjoyed how the inherently social aspect of playwriting made it more exciting than other forms of writing he had worked on, such as journalism or academic papers.
"During the process of writing a play, you get to work with the actors, directors and even the designers," he said. "Everyone has something to add, and it's great to be part of one big creative process."
Nasser also said he loved the challenge of trying to make his play as true-to-life as possible.
"Playwriting is like holding a square block in your hand and trying to cram it into a tiny circular hole," he explained. "At first it may not work, but you rewrite and try to squeeze the block in again. Eventually, with a little bit of work, it might just fit. That's when people will love your work -- when they can see that you put effort into it."
"Philistines!" follows Albert Einstein's journey from his beginning as a struggling college student who could barely get graduate school recommendations from his professors, to his final recognition as one of the most renowned scientific geniuses of the century. The play will be presented as a public reading in Bentley Theater on May 29 by a mixed cast of Dartmouth students and faculty.
Next year, Nasser will pursue a Ph.D. in the history of science at Harvard University. He plans to continue playwriting. "I see this as something I'm always going to do," he said. A point perhaps worthy of another flying pencil.
