Writer Allan Heinberg discusses “Batman Live” arena show coming to Oklahoma City

“Batman Live” will showcase the origin of Robin in a theatrical setting next week at Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W Reno Ave.

The show, which will have eight performances from Wednesday through Oct. 14, features stunts, pyrotechnics, illusions and video screen sequences set in a three-dimensional Gotham City landscape.

The show is written by Allan Heinberg, who grew up in Tulsa before becoming a writer and producer on TV shows including “The O.C.” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” He’s written for the two biggest comic publishers, Marvel and DC Comics, and it’s his relationship with DC Entertainment that led him to “Batman Live.”

Heinberg, who had collaborated with DC Entertainment’s chief creative officer Geoff Johns on the

“Justice League of America” comic book, was asked to give feedback on the “Batman Live” project.

“We started riffing on ideas, and that quickly became him asking me to sit down with the director and producer of ‘Batman Live’ to discuss some of those ideas,” Heinberg said. “And out of that meeting … I very quickly ended up writing an entirely new script for ‘Batman Live.’”

The show uses Dick Grayson, the young acrobat who becomes Robin, as the point of view character for the audience.

“‘Batman Live’ is a show for families. It’s a show for adults to bring their kids in,” Heinberg said. “It’s designed so that everybody in the family can find it accessible and can be entertained by it. So the Dick Grayson character is a great point of entry character into the Batman universe. He’s a kid himself, so kids identify, hopefully identify with Dick Grayson. And if you don’t know anything about the Batman universe, having this young character who enters into the Batman universe for the first time gives you a really nice way in.”

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