Do you like the photo? My niece suggested it. She liked the big smile. Sometimes people notice the bohemian clothing, big smile, and my first name and assume that I am Jewish and white. However, I am mixed race - African American and European ancestry. On both sides of the family, going back a couple of generations. There was a whole lot of creeping on back in those centuries. I grew up in East Orange NJ. It borders Newark. I had piano lessons from the age of five. Soon the grit and anger of Brick City infiltrated East Orange. Before I was 18, I’ve had cousins perish from drug overdoses or gun violence, and others had their first children before they finished high school. My father lost his job. We sold our house and moved onto the second floor of my uncle’s house. The clashing forces of working class issues, race, and laws were part of my growing up. Yet, I still played the piano, finished high school, and went to a local college on an academic scholarship.

I earned a B.A. in English and Speech, Theatre Media Studies from Kean University in N.J. I was their first student to graduate as a theatre major. I also won their Vaughn-Eames award for excellence in Theatre. I studied playwriting at Hunter University in NYC and then earned an M.F.A in Creative Writing Poetry from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. I then took a detour and taught English at Universities in Arabic- speaking countries. Currently, I am a Professor at Middlesex County College in NJ, I specialize in African American Literature, Creative Writing and Playwriting. I also teach playwriting at Wagner College in Staten Island. No children, lots of Sex, and I lie about my age. Please read on.

“Playwright Benjamin V Marshall’s piece takes on a mouthful in terms of personal history and feelings that require a decent amount of exposition. Yet in Corn Bread with Raisins and Almonds, he demonstrates an adept ability to handle emotional complexity” stated DC Theatre Scene about Source Theatre’s Production in Washington D.C. My other plays include Piscataway, NJ, Henry’s Bridge, Boom Box, Carlos and LaVonne, A Goat on the Balcony, Galilee House, Purchasing Power, The Red Train Café, Incident at Willow Creek and Homestar. His work has been developed and or performed at the HBO New Writers Workshop, Luna Stage, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Interact Theatre, ATHE conference, The Warner’s International Playwrights, the Berrie Center, WBEZ Chicago public radio, the Short and Sweet Festival in Melbourne Australia, National Playwrights Symposium at Cape May and the Kennedy Center Summer Intensive.

My play Incident at Willow Creek won both the Bauer-Boucher Award and the Stanley Drama Award. A one act White Gloves recently won in the first annual L.B. Williams Festival from New Circle Theatre in NYC. The one act Extended Play was published in the 2021 edition of The Best New Ten-Minute Plays (Applause Books) I have also published poetry, fiction, and essays in several literary magazines, including Art and Understanding, Callaloo, Jonathon, Bloom and Nimrod.

Other honors include fellowships from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, The Victor Bumbalo/ Robert Chesley Foundation, Venture Theatre, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and five playwriting fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

I am lousy at self-promotion. However, my niece still loves the picture.