By Annette Kirk
When Jeff Bennett retired after thirty years of teaching theater arts at Shoreham-Wading River High School, he received an unusual tribute—the school named its auditorium after him. The Jeff Bennett Auditorium, the space where hundreds of Bennett’s productions were performed, signifies the esteem in which the teacher was held by both administrators and students.
Bennett spent his professional life teaching theater, English, vocal music and public speaking. He staged more than fifty high school shows and has directed plays at Queens College, Theater Three in Port Jefferson, and at Manhattan’s Café La Mama. Currently, he heads the Bare Bones Theater Company, based in Northport, where he runs acting classes and presents showcases.
In 2001, Jeff Bennett’s book “Secondary Stages,” was published by Heinemann, a division of Reed Elsevier. A hands-on text on how to execute a successful high school theater program, the book became the resource among Long Island and Metro-area drama teachers—not just in schools but in community theater groups.
In winter of 2001, Bennett was giving an author talk at a Barnes & Noble bookstore. He revealed that one chapter of the book was cut by the publisher’s editors. The chapter was about an acting exercise Bennett created based on a “trick” he and one of his students played on his class. The student created an ugly, violent scene in the classroom, causing fear and shock among those present. Suddenly, the boy laughed and announced to everyone that they had just witnessed an example of his own excellent and believable acting.
From that incident, Bennett devised the idea of an exercise called “The Beldy,” named after the boy who ‘started all the trouble.’ The students were challenged to determine if their acting was believable by performing a “Beldy” sometime before the course ended. The technique backfired when some students took it too far. Bennett’s editor at the publishing house thought it would be dangerous to describe this exercise in the textbook. Not wanting to jeopardize the publication of the book, Bennett reluctantly agreed to cutting the chapter.
In the audience was Claude Solnik, a reporter for a Long Island trade publication—and also a playwright. Upon hearing this anecdote, Solnik envisioned the seed of a drama based on the Beldy exercise. He approached Bennett after the book talk, and over the next several months, the two men collaborated on the development of a play, which they later named “Theater Games.” Solnik wrote the play, with technical and artistic advice from Bennett.
The plot deals with how “play-acting” can degenerate into dangerous “lying” when it’s not performed onstage. Often, lies cannot be taken back, and that’s just what happens in “Theater Games,” with devastating repercussions for a man’s career and marriage.
The play is aimed at teenagers as well as adults and features young actors and a rock score. Gene Connor, who plays the lead, is Theater Director at Syosset High School, which has one of the most progressive and universally acclaimed programs in high school theater on the Island.
Jeff Bennett’s Bare Bones Theater Company is currently in rehearsal for “Theater Games”. Performances will be held on August 21, 22 and 23 at 8:00 PM at the Posey School, 57 Main St., Northport. It will also be presented in an extended run at the Islip Pavilion on September 18, 19 and 20. For more information, visit
www.barebonestheater.com .
Annette Kirk is the play's press agent play and a student in Bennerr's acting classes.