Throughout the past couple of weeks, I had the privilege of working with Ben Johnson from Lincoln Center, on the Junior section of AP Literature’s Twelfth Night play. Ben was here for ten days, including the day of the play. Throughout these days, Ben worked closely with our class and provided us with great guidance and support to create our play of Twelfth Night.

He gave us ideas on what to say, how to act, and how to bring emotion to the play. He was very involved with the production. Each time we saw Ben, there was always something that he would give us feedback on and help us make our work better. He would take things out and put in new things that made the play better overall. In the short time I have gotten to work with Ben, he has shown me and my classmates how to create a piece that we are proud of. We created something that captures the meaning and idea of Twelfth Night, while also creating something exciting to watch and participate in.

Ben was hands-on when it came to helping us create Twelfth Night, telling us to create soundtracks, and adding the background to the play (ex. Having people walk around, say things in the background, etc.)  He would give examples of how to improve our acting, like using different voice changes. 

During the play, Ben pushed students to create a great piece. He was making sure that students were super proud of the work that they had been doing for the month. Overall, he was super motivating for my classmates. After talking to my classmates, many say Ben was nice and a joy to work with. They said, “He had a good vibe” and was just an amazing teacher and actor to work with students.  He was a huge part of making the play the way it was. And for that, we thank him for coming every day that he could and taking his time to help us create Twelfth Night.

Thank you, Ben!