Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance

Ben Ballmer is an actor, director, and composer pursuing a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre with a minor in Media Psychology and Persuasion. IU acting credits include Triassic Parq (University Players), Emergency, the musical! (Independent Project), and The Last Five Years (Independent Project). Professional credits include The Enlightenment of Percival von Schmootz (Bloomington Playwrights Project) and Children of Eden (Confidential Musical Theater Project).

Directing credits include Tick, tick...Boom! (Self-produced), Stupid F*cking Bird (University Players), The Weir (SDS Backyard Theatre), and Lungs (SDS Backyard Theatre). In the Summer of 2020, Ben acted as the executive producer of the Complete Works of Annie Baker, a digital reading series of six plays featuring the work of 28 performers and 4 directors.

Ben's playwriting and composition work has been recognized nationally in forums like The Blank Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival (two-time semifinalist) and the American Composer's Forum NextNotes workshop (2018 winner).

In all aspects of his work, Ben believes that the future of art is the consolidation of all forms of media into one revelatory "catharsis-blob." He strives for safe, diverse, and intersectional rehearsal spaces, pursuing bizarre artistic truths not by any means necessary but by all means profoundly unnecessary.