Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Steven Bennett. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Steven, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Some of the most meaningful projects I’ve ever worked on were the ones that were independent and unpaid. When I was a kid, I think the goal was always to get paid to perform and continue working on bigger and bigger projects. Of course, I still hold onto those dreams, but, in the past, those jobs have sometimes left me…unfulfilled — as grateful as I am for the experiences and opportunity. I’ve found that through the commercialization and corporatization of performance art, we can lose the reason we all got into this in the first place. The inner creativity we tap into, the childlike wonderment of playtime and imagination, and the simple, egoless collaboration between friends are just some things that have brought me so much joy and fulfillment as funny as it may sound. My most recent and upcoming project, “Girl All the Bad Guys Want” written by William Johnson Pope — and music by Bowling For Soup, by the way — is opening on Feb. 18th at The Hudson Guild Theater in NYC, and it has truly ticked all those boxes for me when it comes to creating a new and original jukebox musical from scratch. I’m always so grateful and surprised when all those beautiful elements come together with the right people working on the right project at the right time.
Similarly, another one of those fulfilling projects was titled, “The Birth of Saturn: A Photo Story.” I was in an incredibly active place, creatively, but I had no outlet. I kept having these visions of a story told in five parts through images. I knew exactly what I wanted each frame to look like, but I didn’t have the means to make it happen by myself. With the collaboration of my gracious and brilliant friends (director, Cecilia Bracey and photographer, Isa Luciano), my story was told on a bigger scale than I could have imagined. When I saw the final shots at the end of the day, I was overcome with emotion.
I think this was the first time I realized at my core that I am an artist by definition and it took me a long time to come to terms with that. This project is everything I stand for as an artist from conception to completion, and seeing it come out better than I could have imagined was incredibly emotionally gratifying and it was overwhelming.
I think this career wants to make you pick one thing to be. So, for awhile, I said, “‘I’m an actor?’ No, ‘I’m a singer’…how about, ‘I’m an entertainer.'” Actually, I’m all that and more. I’m an artist, and I can create and do anything my mind can imagine. I look back at this photo story, and it really makes me feel limitless.

Steven, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As cliché as it may sound, it’s the honest truth to say I was a born entertainer. Genuinely, pursuing a career in entertainment was never a choice or option for me. It always felt like the natural, obvious thing for me to do with my life for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I loved making my family laugh, singing little songs, and putting on little shows. I started pretty young with a talent and model agent, was in an episode of Blue’s Clues, and even did some voice-over work with Nickelodeon. As the auditions ramped up and I became more self aware of what I was actually doing, it became too much for me. I took a step back from that, but honestly felt pretty lost without it. Performing was always something calling to me to get back into, so I started up in classes again: improv, singing, dancing, discovering what musical theater was and is, and finally deciding to dedicate myself to it. I’ve really grown up with this passion and need to express myself through theater and music. As I learned through intermittent work and a pandemic, I feel really hollow without it. I always have to be creating and filling my soul up with anything I can get my hands on. So I’ve dabbled with some independently made work that I’ve produced, written, or directed. It’s been fun discovering recently that I could, for example, write a scene. Stretching the boundaries of the creative capacity that I, simply, made for myself.
I love getting an audience’s response when it is gracious and intentional. I hope that the work I put in gets a response or reaction from them that leads to a great conversation. I’m always so appreciative when someone tells me that the certain way I told a story made their day better or that the way I sang a song made them emotional in the best way. I’m really proud of the track record I have in my career where I get to move people and make them feel a certain way with my music. And even though I always sing other people’s material, I can bring and express something new in a familiar song through my own experiences — that is one of my favorite things.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I guess my resilience is that I’m still here! That’s kind of a joke. As early as I feel like my career is in its birth, I feel like I’ve been tested countless times about whether this is right for me, whether I can do this, am I good enough, is it worth the struggle, etc. I’ve been faced with tragedy in the middle of a contract and had to go on with the show for weeks. Now, that wasn’t fun, but it did make me more resilient. A pandemic telling the world that my industry is “non-essential” hurts for sure, but it made me more resilient. I guess as life happens, it makes you a more well-rounded person, a deeper and more complex artist, and a more experienced human. I was so sheltered as a younger person, so there was no way I could’ve ever tapped into anything to then put into a role or character. But now I get it. As awful as it is to experience the harshness of life sometimes, at least we grow from it. We can use it in turn for our work or even just becoming a better version of ourselves. Even in the good times of life, I feel it’s important to stay grounded and present. Be aware of all the great experiences to, yes, use in my work, but also to learn all the wonderful things it takes to be an empathetic and caring person.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

For me, I had to unlearn a lot of things I was taught in class. Not that being in school didn’t teach me valuable things, but for me, all these things I learned about (acting, singing, etc.) was too cerebral. It put me way too far into my head about it, and I could almost never “just be” on stage. I would overthink everything and it caused a great amount of anxiety when I’d need to perform. When you’re a kid you just go on instinct and emotion. That’s what I’m always trying to do. Take the first thing I go for when reading a line, harnessing that, and then controlling it in a rehearsal. But I don’t like to rehearse too much. I either want to be underrehearsed so I am just flying on my instinct and hope/know the inherent technique I have from experience will reign me in, or otherwise, to have <i>so</i> much rehearsal that it’s second nature and I feel so comfortable with the material and space I’m in I will feel totally free to be myself and find new moments.

Contact Info:

• Website: bennettsteven.com
• Instagram: @mr_stevenbennett
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@stevenbennett15?si=5DG9WpeR6aGIitVf

Image Credits
Rachel Philipson, Isa Luciano, Jeff Salmore, Ivan J Ortiz