On this first episode of the second season, partners in life and in art, Mary Trotter and Ben Gonzales join us to kick things off. Parents to twin girls, Mary & Ben examine the juggling act that is a life in the theatre while raising children.

Mary Trotter (she/her) is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse where she teaches acting and musical theatre, and most recently directed The Wolves! She is an actor, director and intimacy choreographer. Professional credits span the country including Black Hills Playhouse, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Imagination Theater, Missouri Repertory Theatre, and Idaho Repertory Theatre. In addition to UWL, locally Mary has served as Intimacy Director for Viterbo University, La Crosse Community Theatre and Grey Area Productions. She received her BA from Bradley University and MFA from the University of Idaho, and has extensive training with Patsy Rodenburg, Theatrical Intimacy Education, and the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium. Mary has produced and directed theatre outreach programs such as Las Memorias and The Performance Project, focused on defining and sharing individual stories of participants.

Benjamin Gonzales is an assistant professor teaching in the areas of theatre history and literature at Viterbo University. He has worked for the past 21 years as an instructor/professor, directing, and designing plays and teaching classes in playwriting, lighting, sound, theatrical literature and history, and design fundamentals and aesthetics. Benjamin has earned an MA in teaching from Washington State University, and an MFA in Theatre Arts (focused on dramatic writing) from the University of Idaho. He specializes in writing verbatim plays that highlight the stories of communities who have in some way been marginalized. Benjamin currently serves as the national chair of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival's (KCACTF) National Playwriting Program (NPP) and has previously served as the representation, equity, and diversity (RED) Coordinator. Plays written by Benjamin include: The Lion and Lamb (2016), Memoria de Oaxaca (2017), Up Chimacum Creek (2018), VOUCHer (2018), The Good Soldier (2018), and Sour Mash (2019).