who is benjamin walton (me)? 

i grew up the oldest of five kids and eight untrained dogs with a south carolinian-raised mom who knows and talks to everyone in the south and a dad who taught me james taylor and bob dylan on his guitar. this combined with my adhd meant that noise was and is like a well-worn flannel to me, familiar and comfortable. once i left home for school, i started to experience and slowly familiarize myself with silence: the isolation of eating alone on the floor of a college apartment where i hadn’t bought a table and i didn’t know my roommates or the peaceful respite of traveling a few hours outside of chicago during the pandemic with my fiancé to walk together in state parks. 

i think about the noise of communities forming. those thoughts are rooted in my grandmother tootsie, who raised a daughter who raised a son to never meet a stranger. they’re rooted in concerts with my dad and the spirit of communal singing and dancing. they’re rooted in badly performed meisner exercises from college and improv classes at io to meet new people after moving to chicago.

my shows are always aware of how they sound and they are about people who are trying to discover truths about other people. i try to build communities through the noise. i aim to create pieces that invite the audience into the world, and either tell them to take a seat and make them comfortable or put them to work and contribute to the world. i want to create stories that have magical or “out-there” circumstances that are about regular people. 

I’ve worked to cultivate a lifestyle that scratches the ADHD itch of looking for new stimuli and projects and noises, and my daily routine is nothing if not a noisy community. And new york is a treasure trove of both: competing buskers at union square, our cats chasing the bugs that have snuck in through the a/c because it is too damn hot outside, and so many passing conversations. i continue to learn and experiment with ways for my work to mimic these things that i love, and to allow the audience to see why i love them. 

i have my bfa in musical theatre performance with minors in creative writing and music from the university of central florida. i have an mfa in musical theatre writing from the graduate musical theatre writing program at new york university (cycle 33). i’m a member of the dramatists guild, the society of american fight directors, and the literary managers and dramaturgs of the americas. i’m a cat dad of two amazing cat babies: artemis and coco. i’m a lucky fiancé to my amazing partner, eranthis. i’m a lover of games both board and video. i’m an amateur cook who’s getting better by the day. i watch a lot of things, i listen to a lot of things. i always try to care about anything i’m doing as much as possible. i want to tell fun, weird, and accessible stories that always have heart and sincerity at the core. and… that’s who i am right now.