BRATTLEBORO — The New England Youth Theatre May Awards Committee recently announced that NEYT alumnus Ben Stockman is the recipient of the May Award for 2017.
Stockman is currently studying for his MFA in directing at Ohio University, and this is the second time he has been awarded. He also is the first May Award applicant to specialize in directing.
Stockman is a member of the founding class of NEYT in 2001, and he quickly established himself as an actor, a director, and a keen and savvy reader of scripts. He was involved in numerous productions as an actor at NEYT and directed his first show in 2009.
He went on to direct six more for the organization, including a production of “Harvey” as a junior in high school. He also has been both an assistant director and a director for the Apron Theatre Company in Putney, and returns to Brattleboro frequently to direct both NEYT's Alumni shows and their summer programs for youths in the area.
His primary long-term goal is to found an ensemble-based professional theater company. This company would “provide reliable opportunities for future NEYT alumni seeking to work in the industry, in a working environment that consistently fosters the kind, encouraging, and supportive collaborative relationships that NEYT was founded on,” Stockman said in a news release.
The May Award is funded by a generous grant from an anonymous donor. It is awarded to NEYT graduates over the age of 21 who are currently in a program or have been accepted into a recognized program of professional training, are in a conservatory, or are a theater major, and intend to continue on a path of professional training in the performing arts.
The intention behind the award is to spur the growth of committed actors and technicians in the theatrical world, help their careers, and thereby eventually help to build the financial strength of NEYT.
The May Award Committee consists of a balanced roster of NEYT faculty and staff and community members outside of NEYT. They consider the NEYT career of all applicants, the level of commitment, energy, and determination shown by applicants during their years at NEYT, and the quality of their work.