who is benjamin walton (me)? 

benjamin walton is a georgia-raised, new york city-based theatre maker, composer, and writer. his one-act play playground was a region 1 finalist and national semifinalist for the john cauble outstanding short play award through the kennedy center american college theatre festival in 2024, and was featured in utah state university’s reading series the same year. his fifteen-minute opera the hands that planted (libretto by zoe ray prawda) was presented in 2024 in collaboration with the american opera project, the hudson guild, and nyu’s opera lab. his mini-musical dive in (book & lyrics by timothy thomas leech) premiered at the university of central florida in 2024 as part of project spotlight. other works include tame the noise, i'm in love with bigfoot (book & lyrics by timothy thomas leech), and an untitled basement piece (book & lyrics by sravya saraswatula). as founder and artistic director of sandboxmusicals, benjamin leads a development organization dedicated to supporting new musical theatre and emerging artists. he’s a proud member of the dramatist guild. he holds a bfa in musical theatre performance from the university of central florida and an mfa from nyu’s graduate musical theatre writing program.

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 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 husband 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.

i’m a theatre maker who works primarily as a composer and playwright.

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 wife 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.