How I got here . . .

Can I get real for a sec?

Mine is a journey out of abandonment, loneliness and isolation, and into creativity, connection and community. My parents divorced when I was very little and I was an only child bouncing between two very different worlds. Amidst the chaos of my early life I sometimes felt like baggage the adults carried around. Believing I was fundamentally flawed and unlovable, I became an overachiever. I went to a fancy prep school in Boston, then an Ivy League college and graduate school. The outside was shiny and impressive. But I was sad and hollow inside, and I slid into self-destruction and despair.

I learned the hard way - we can’t do it alone. I was saved on an island of misfit toys populated with theatre folks, creative types, and people in recovery. Out of a life begun in isolation I became an expert in human relationships. I discovered that my salvation and purpose lie in creative connection with other people.

Today this journey of my life - from isolation to connection - is what I bring to the people I serve through my work: as a facilitator, as a teacher, as an actor and improviser. This mission has brought me to prestigious universities like Princeton, Villanova and The University of the Arts. It has produced several articles and two books. It has led me to offer workshops and create experiences all over the world, and with people of all abilities.

The photo at the top of this page is of Susan K. and me in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1980. My father took me to a famous production when I was eight and I made him take me back several times. I have been an actor in three different productions of this play, which I call The Play of My Life, and this one with Susan was the first.

“Wishing things were different (or that I was different) simply wastes time. The improviser can’t afford unrealistic thinking. Instead, she builds bridges over rocky terrain and turns lemons into lemonade. She works with what is actually in front of her, setting aside the temptation to dwell on what it is not.”

— Patricia Ryan Madsen, Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up

Ben’s Basics:

Ben has a B.A. in Theatre Studies with honors from Yale College, and an M.F.A. in Acting from the Yale School of Drama. In 2022 he received a certificate from Cornell University in Diversity and Inclusion. Ben has acted and directed at every major theater in the Philadelphia region, as well as theaters in New York, regional theaters in the US, in the U.K. and the Czech Republic. He has taught at major universities such as Princeton, Villanova, Temple and Penn State.

From 2011 - 2023, Ben created and ran the innovative nonprofit called Bright Invention (originally, White Pines Productions) which used improvisation to empower people and organizations to unlock their potential. It was at Bright Invention that he developed scenario-based training and began to work with people with disabilities.

Ben has run learning and development workshops for large multinational corporations like Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, large nonprofits like the YMCA and The West Philadelphia Skills Initiative, and for smaller groups like schools and community organizations.

He has presented workshops at conferences of the Applied Improvisation Network, and for the Kennedy Center’s Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability.

Ben has published several scholarly articles through Cambridge University Press (UK) and Pendle Hill Publications, and has written two books: The Actor’s Way (2006) and The Deception of Surfaces (2011).