Starring as Sinbad at the July 28 Asia After Dark is Alex Nagel, assistant curator of ancient Near East at the Freer and Sackler Galleries. Originally from Germany, he worked as an archaeologist in Greece and on determining the original colors of ancient Persepolis in modern Iran. In 2010, he received a PhD from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Though he has been on the stage since a young age in the State Opera at Berlin, he has not acted much since he began studying the ancient world. Alex notes that “the ancient Near East and neighboring cultures are fascinating to me, and many developments today have their roots in much older traditions. Sinbad is one of those great characters I enjoyed reading about growing up.”