We recently connected with Benjamin Martin and have shared our conversation below.
Benjamin , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
The most meaningful project I have worked on was “The Dizzy Dangerfield Experience” which was the largest project I have ever put together. I wrote, produced, directed, built and even starred in it along with 11 other people. It was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life.
As a child of the 90s I grew up in a world that was a little more uptight about gender roles and masculinity. As a man you are surrounded by these other male influences and expectations and a lot of that has been beaten into my brain and manifested itself throughout my life but not in the way you would think. I am actually not a very masculine person and I have never really fit in anywhere let alone a typical masculine role although I have always had a desire to fit in. It felt like people could tell I was weird immediately and I would be excluded no matter how hard I tried. I just wanted people to love me and to fit in so badly. I have struggled so hard with this issue throughout my life and I have had to mask, people please and use an avoidant attachment style to protect myself from shame and rejection.
So fast forward to 2020 and I realized that going to university and getting a “career” office job is killing my soul. It’s also the middle of a global pandemic which gives me an incredible amount of time to stop and reflect. In that reflection I saw I had been wasting my time and energy trying to fit into a cookie cutter standard to try and protect myself and life is extremely short so I need to embrace who I am and pursue my dreams. So I quit my job in North Carolina and moved down to New Orleans, LA to start my new career as a puppeteer.
Throughout that time I grew so much and flourished as an artist that I ended up on America’s Got Talent in 2023. But even with all of that I still felt this longing to fit in and I still had issues with how I was raised and how all of that was taking a toll on my life. I still felt very frustrated, lost and like an outsider.
I had learned that sometimes when you pick up a puppet that puppet will tell you exactly who they are and I experienced this life changing moment when I picked up Dizzy. Dizzy is the manifestation of all of this toxic masculinity and rejection I have experienced in my life. Dizzy is best described as a reformed bro. He very clearly was a stereotypical alpha male jock that has now become more connected to the universe, spiritual and believes he is healed and a healer although he is still very problematic. The redeeming quality of Dizzy that shines through though is that he has a huge heart and he genuinely wants to connect with people and do better.
So as a way to be vulnerable and work though this side of myself I came up with an immersive puppet show called “The Dizzy Dangerfield Experience” which was a parody of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast show. In the show Dizzy tells his life story to Bro Jogan ( Joe Rogan) and works through all of these issues live on stage with the audience. The show encouraged people to be vulnerable and heal as well and as a result had a major impact on audiences and was the highest selling show at New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival in 2024.
This show changed my life because it showed me that I am a great leader, a talented artist and most importantly it showed me that I can be my truest self and that not everyone has to love me. I do not have to fit in and me being myself and vulnerable will bring the right people to me and filter out those who are not a match for me.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Benjamin Martin and I am an immersive artist, puppeteer, producer, director and actor living in New Orleans, LA. I own Poose Productions Inc. I have been performing since I was a child but really got into puppetry and immersive art in 2019. I got into my industry through my brother Sam martin (Three-Brained Robot) who is a performance artist, my friend Toybox Theatre who is a puppeteer/mentor and finally my friend Tyler Nacho who is also an immersive artist/mentor. I provide immersive experiences for festivals, parties and even corporate events. These experiences can be based on any theme. I have also made several original shows and productions that I have toured around the world. For my clients I love to solve the problem of not having a memorable experience with an underlying profound message for their event. What sets me apart from others is my attention to detail and drive to create an experience that is actually profound and healing for the audience. I am most proud of the results of my work and the positive influence it has had on people’s lives.
I have performed and created immersive experiences at notable places including The National Puppetry Festival (2023), America’s Got Talent (2023), Take 3 Room Service (2024), Burning Man (2023,2024), the reality series My Amazing Cheap Date: New Orleans (2021), The New Orleans Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo (2022), The New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival (2022,2023,2024) and The Asheville, NC Fringe festival (2021,2022 and 2024). I have also won several awards for my work like “Funniest at Fringe & Fan Favorite” Asheville, NC Fringe Festival 2021,2022 and 2024, “Fringiest of the Fringe Asheville”, NC Fringe Festival 2022 and 2024 and the Asheville, NC Fringe festival 2024 “Most inspiring show” Award.
From my 6 years of experience I have gathered a ton of useful and creative skills and feel extremely confident that I can bring an immersive experience to any event you are planning and I am open to collaborating and helping your message and idea leave a long lasting beautiful memory in your guest’s minds.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
When I began performing in 2014 the biggest issue in my life was finding my life’s true purpose. From this I came up with my main show Poose The Puppet. In the show you are taken on a journey to find your life’s true PUR-POOSE (purpose). It was a way for me to set free this frustration and connect with others around me. Because of the positive reactions and major impact it was making on people’s lives, I discovered that the mission driving my creative journey or true PUR-POOSE was to create immersive art that heals, inspires others and helps people feel seen and less alone.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is truly the positive impact that it makes on other people’s lives. When I speak to people after they have witnessed one of my immersive experiences and they come up to me in tears and we share that genuine human connection together it makes me overwhelmed with joy and pride. They have seen me and I have seen them. I am extremely grateful I have found an outlet where I can unfurl and be vulnerable and this creates a space for others to do the same so we can all grow and heal together.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.poosethepuppet.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/poosethepuppet/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/poosethepuppet/
- Twitter: @poosethepuppet
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@poose
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/poosethepuppet
- Other: Tiktok: @poosethepuppet
Image Credits
Caitlin Ridenour/ Joshua Joseph Lynch/ Jennifer Bennett/ Leo G Rauf