I am a human living and learning in Boulder, CO. Though my story starts many, many years earlier…

I was born and raised just outside of Minneapolis, MN in a sleepy suburb called Roseville. Here, I discovered my passion for acting, improvising, and all things theatre.

I came up in the Minneapolis theatre scene and experienced modest success as a teenager when a local reviewer once described my performance in Neil Simon’s Come Blow Your Horn as “insufferably spastic.”

I followed my acting dream as a first-generation college student and received a BFA in Acting from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2015 where I played a variety of old men and eccentric weirdos.

Upon graduating, I immediately landed a job with Disney Cruise Line playing The Genie in Aladdin on the Fantasy ship. After sailing around the Caribbean for 7 months, I continued to pursue a career in theatre and moved to New York City.

I lived and worked in NYC for 4 years and booked acting jobs that took me to places like Arizona, California, New Hampshire, 43rd Street in Midtown, a bar basement on the Upper West Side, and Saudi Arabia (twice, actually). I thought I would spend my life as a New Yorker…and then, well, COVID happened…5 months of quarantine and no work later, I had to pivot. So, I pursued graduate school…

I moved across the country in 2020 to begin my Master of Arts in Theatre & Performance Studies at The University of Colorado Boulder. Here, I discovered an interdisciplinary research interest in improv, queer theory, and climate change communications.

I graduated with my MA in 2022 and moved swiftly into the PhD program at CU Boulder. My dissertation analyzes a series of workshops on embodied improv activities inspired by Augusto Boal and his theories in Theatre of the Oppressed, which I facilitated at the University of Iowa, the University of Colorado Boulder, and an arts-science summer school program in Berlin, Germany. A 283-page dissertation later and I can proudly say that I have graduated with my PhD in Theatre & Performance Studies! Dr. Ben, ready to be employed.

I have learned a lot while in grad school and am proficient in sending emails. I am enjoying this chapter of my life and have built skills as a writer, researcher, theorist, teacher, climate communicator, improviser, workshop facilitator, and theatrical director. In April, I became certified in facilitating Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed through the Mandala Center for Change, hosted by Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. You can find my publications and additional scholarship at the bottom of the News + Résumé/CV tab.

I continue to maintain a professional career as a theatre practitioner and regularly direct shows in the Boulder area. I also work as an actor, dialect coach, and private acting coach.

When in normal human mode, I love cooking, reading (currently on a sci-fi/fantasy kick so please send recommendations), learning about film photography, practicing mindfulness, traveling, caring for my many plants, creative writing (read a sample), laughing with friends, and going to the movies with my handsome boyfriend.

You can see more of my professional life throughout this website.