playground
a one-act play in development by benjamin walton. it follows Kai, a 6 year-old, as they push through their manifested mental illness to try and find their place in a new school.
awards, development, and production history:
developed at nyu’s graduate musical theatre writing program with guidance from donna dinovelli - december 2023
region 1 finalist and national semi-finalist for john cauble award for outstanding short play at kennedy center american college theatre festival in 2024.
concert reading at central connecticut state university at the region 1 kennedy center american college theatre festival (dir. tim gleason) - feburary 2024
staged reading at utah state university (dir. sam capener) - september 2024
working script can be found on newplayexchange here.
mark; or just beyond pluto
a one-act play in development by benjamin walton. what happens when space programs detect a unobservable celestial body directly past pluto, and when they finally send a manned ship to retrieve information, instead they find mark floating in space.
working script can be found on newplayexchange here.
development history:
guided feedback sessions with deborah brevoort at nyu - may 2023
assorted songs
‘be you’ - lyrics by hannah z. morley | music by benjamin walton | written for and inspired by aria evans.
‘anything but crazy: how american musical theatre can change societal stigmas against mental illnesses’
“abstract
there is a societal stigma that villainizes or degrades anyone diagnosed or associated with any mental illness. while many different forms of media have attempted to destroy this stigma through psycho-centric narratives, i wanted to argue that musical theatre has the greatest potential as a live entertainment source to deconstruct and reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness. for my research, i theorized that musical theatre can most effectively change societal stigma about mental illness by communicating a clear understanding of the disease through music, and achieving popularity in the public eye longer than other live forms of theatre. i chose to focus on four of those musicals: lady in the dark by moss hart, kurt weill, and ira gershwin which talks about depression and anxiety in the 1940s; spring awakening, adapted from frank wedekind's original play by steven sater and duncan sheik, which discusses depression and suicidal tendencies, specifically in students; next to normal by brian yorkey and tom kitt which revolves around bipolar disorder; and dear evan hansen by steven levenson, benj pasek, and justin paul which talks about the prevalence of anxiety disorders in society.
with this thesis i wanted to further the progression of destigmatizating mental illnesses through the medium of musical theatre. through an analysis of these well-known musicals that focus on mental illnesses and the psychological research that follows, i proposed a short song cycle that continues this evolution of mental illness musicals. through this process, i theorized that musical theatre will decrease the stigma surrounding mental illnesses and will promote treatment and care when dealing with mental illnesses.”
read the thesis here.