5 time Tony Nominee Ben Stanton stops by Behind the Awards to share his process on lighting such shows as Maybe Happy Ending, The Notebook and Spring Awakening.  Ben goes into detail about the innovative tech that went into Maybe Happy Ending and his collaboration with the video design.

Also in this episode - 2026 Broadway Season announcements are in full swing. Revivals of Ragtime, Chess and Mamma Mia lead the way. 

Ben is a lighting designer for theater, concerts, dance, installations, and events. He is a four-time Tony Award nominee as well as an Obie, Lortel, IRNE, and Ovation Award winner. Ben is currently represented on Broadway by Maybe Happy Ending at the Belasco Theater. Recent Broadway credits include The Notebook (the Schoenfeld Theater) Mary Jane (starring Rachel McAdams), Days of Wine and Roses (Starring Kelli O'Hara & Brian Darcy James), Goodnight, Oscar (starring Sean Hayes); The Collaboration (Starring Paul Bettany & Jeremy Pope); Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (Featuring Jefferson Mays);   The Rose Tattoo (starring Marisa Tomei); Derren Brown: Secret (James Earl Jones Theater); Regina Spektor: Live On Broadway (Lunt-Fontanne Theater); Ayad Akhtar’s Junk (Lincoln Center);  Six Degrees of Separation (starring Allison Janney, Corey Hawkins, and John Benjamin Hickey); Deaf West Theater’s Spring Awakening (Lena Horne Theater); Fully Committed (starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson); and Fun Home (Broadway, Off-Broadway, 1st National Tour, London).

Ben has designed concerts and tours for recording artists including Beirut, Ben Platt, Iron and Wine, The National, Regina Spektor, Sufjan Stevens, and St. Vincent, and has collaborated on several large-scale concert/theater hybrid performances including Road Trip featuring Bang On A Can All-Stars (BAM Opera House / Ford Theater, LA), Reconfiguration – An Evening with Other Lives (BAM Opera House), Planetarium featuring Bryce Dessner, Nico Mulhy, & Sufjan Stevens (BAM Opera House / Disney Concert Hall, LA / Sydney Opera House), and Black Mountain Songs featuring Bryce Dessner, Richard Reed Parry, & the Brooklyn Youth Chorus (BAM Harvey Theater / Barbican, London).

Ben serves as an Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College where he teaches lighting design and programming, and he’s the founder and principal designer at Stanton Collaborative, a full-service design firm specializing in concerts, events, and art installations. Ben graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with degrees in theater and jazz performance. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, the projection designer Lucy Mackinnon, and their two children.

Make sure to check out Eila's book, "The Tony Awards", and all her other amazing books: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/43WMu5Y⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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