In Dialogue: Austin Lightning Carrothers & Cecily Lyn Benjamin

As they prepare for a production of Robert Schenkkan’s Building the Wall, alumni Austin Lightning Carrothers (2024) and Cecily Lyn Benjamin (2003) discuss the play’s unsettling relevance, the responsibilities of artists in politically-turbulent times, and the challenge of portraying characters shaped by fear and ideology.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

You’re both working on a timely play, Building the Wall. Tell me about this.

Austin: The play takes place during Trump’s first term, and is only partly fictional. The first half of the play is grounded in reality, while the second half imagines what could happen next. The potential for what happens in the play to occur is very real…we've seen versions of it throughout history. Leaders have taken the anger of a segment of the population and used it to justify atrocities.

Cecily: It's true that authoritarian leaders often don't care about the people they're manipulating. At the same time, the play raises questions about personal responsibility and how easily people can be drawn into those narratives. There are people who see themselves as have-nots, but who still have far more than others. And when those others are simply fighting for their own small piece, the response can become, "Wait—you can't have that, because I still need mine!"

The play also asks what it really means to be disenfranchised. How do we define that? Do we measure our own disenfranchisement by what we lack, or by comparing ourselves to people who have even less? Those are some of the questions the story leaves us wrestling with.

How does your character go into this? Does she have a sense of empathy?

Cecily: No, not empathy. My character is a historian, so there's empathy to the extent that all human beings are capable of great wonder and of great failure. My job is simply to record history for what it is. It's my job to keep history as pristine as possible.

That said, it's difficult to be completely impartial when you're confronted with actions that feel deeply troubling. I'm not saying Rick is pure evil—I'm not saying that—I'm just saying there's some stuff going on, and it's a problem.

Austin, for you?

Austin: As I'm playing Rick, I have to find empathy for him. I have to understand his justifications and the way he sees the world.

Robert Schenkkan has talked about reading an interview with a Nazi officer who oversaw one of the largest concentration camps. Throughout the interview, the man continually justified his actions and made excuse after excuse for what he had done. I think that idea is reflected in Rick's character. He always has a reason for why he made the choices he made.

I think it's important to tell this story because there are a lot of people who agree with Rick's position, at least in the first half of the play. By the end of the play…the audience is forced to confront how someone can arrive at that point, and what happens when fear and anger go unchecked.

What are some aspects of your Academy training that have stuck with you?

Austin: I use my warm-ups and the Alexander Technique I learned at the Academy. Meisner repetition when we get there. A lot of my process right now is research-based. At the Academy, David Dean Bottrell emphasized finding reference points for people, places, and events, so I’ve been digging into anything that comes up in the play; Abu Ghraib, Nidal Hasan and the Fort Hood shooting, and anything else I can use to ground it in something real. The goal is to build memory so it feels lived-in.

Maggie Low used to say the truth is in the eyes, it’s the key to everything. Her focus was on daydreaming and creating inner life to make the work more real and playable moment to moment. That’s something I’ve really taken with me.

Cecily: I attended the evening division in the early 2000s. I’m so grateful for the Academy, the people there, the voice and speech training, and especially the movement work. The emphasis on not needing to be perfect, but just continuing to build and refine your process, really stays with you.

A lot of it comes down to reading your script over and over, those anchors like “red leather, yellow leather” warmups, and Meisner repetition. All of that becomes something you can rely on, especially when you’re working on a piece as demanding as this.

Can you say more about this play?

Cecily: It's been wonderful. Obviously, with a two-hander, there are nerves that come with it. When you're not speaking, you're still prepared, you're always on, you're fully engaged the whole time.

Austin and I have chosen to spend a considerable amount of time together just working through the lines, and that’s been really important. It’s a lot, but Austin is a consummate professional, and he really forces me to elevate my game and dig into the script.

We’ve become each other’s safety net in a way—you know the other person is there, but you also feel how much they care about getting it right. That’s what I’ve gotten from working with Austin.

Austin: I’m really grateful to have such a supportive scene partner, and it’s also fun that we both attended the same school. Both of us studied under Janis Powell. She’s an amazing acting teacher.

Also, Brent and Cecily’s work in prisons has been really helpful and insightful for me. Because my character has come out of solitary confinement to do this interview with Gloria, the anecdotes and stories they’ve shared from their work has helped me better understand the world I’m stepping into.

Is any of it sticking with you?

Austin: It’s funny, my mom actually asked me that yesterday when I visited her upstate. She asked if I was “alright” playing this role. I hadn’t really given it much thought. But I think it’s our responsibility as artists to tell stories that encourage conversation about the world. Right now, I’m really happy to be working on this because it gives me something to focus on.

I think that’s part of what we’re trying to do as artists: reflect reality and get people to question their perspectives. And sometimes it’s also just about entertainment; sometimes the goal is simply to make people laugh. After this, I’d love to do a comedy.

Cecily: We’re all born human, and then we become something shaped through experiences. One thing I learned from volunteering in the prison system—and meeting some truly lovely people who had done some very terrible things—everybody is capable of everything. Given a certain set of circumstances, a person can be led to almost anything.

The difference between me and someone who has done something horrific is often just the circumstances we’ve encountered. I get to be me, and they get to be them, because we’re each dealing with our own set of conditions. But at the root of it, we’re all capable of getting there.

That’s why one of my lines in the play feels so important to me: we have to understand Rick. Because if we don’t want there to be more Ricks, we have to understand how Rick became Rick in the first place.

What should audiences expect from this show?

Cecily: They should expect to leave feeling empowered to do something, and they should also expect to be entertained. I think the show should be a wake-up call for some people.

Austin: At the end of the day, people should take away from this show that we need to hold our politicians accountable. Part of what the play is doing is asking us to reconsider some of our assumptions around power. I hope it sparks conversation. That’s really what I want from this show.

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