BUILDING THE WALL to Premiere Off-Broadway, Featuring Post-Show Discussions

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Robert Schenkkan's two-hander stars Austin Lightning Carrothers and Cecily Lyn Benjamin, directed by Brent Buell.

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Ripple Effect Artists has announced a limited Off-Broadway engagement of Building The Wall, a political thriller written by Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Shenkkan that explores how fear-driven national division and escalating anti-immigration policies can slowly erode democratic norms and human compassion.

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Directed by Brent Buell, the two-hander features Austin Lightning Carrothers and Cecily Lyn Benjamin and will run June 11th through June 21stat Urban Stages, 259 West 30th St.

Written in 2016 and set in what was then imagined as the near future of 2019, Building The Wall presents themes audiences may find startlingly familiar in 2026, as immigration raids, detention center controversies, deportation crackdowns, and questions surrounding civil liberties dominate headlines across the United States.

Ripple Effect Artists is partnering with immigrant advocacy organizations including the Immigration Defense Project and New York Immigration Coalition to host post-show talkbacks and raise awareness and funding for legal resources supporting immigrant communities. Conversations will feature representatives from those organizations following the performances on 6/11, 6/12, 6/18, 6/19, and 6/20.

Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan is the author of more than thirty plays, including The Kentucky Cycle, which received the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and All The Way, winner of the Tony Award for Best Play. His additional works include The Great Society, Building the Wall, The Investigation: A Search for Truth in Ten Acts, Hanussen, and Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates. His work has been presented on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally throughout the United States, and internationally. Schenkkan is also an acclaimed screenwriter whose credits include Hacksaw Ridge, The Pacific, Spartacus, and The Quiet American.

Director Brent Buell is a New York-based theater artist whose work spans theater, film, fiction, and prison arts advocacy. For ten years, Buell directed theater inside New York maximum-security prisons through Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), experiences that later inspired Sing Sing from A24. Buell's work is represented in the film through a character portrayed by Oscar nominee Paul Raci . Buell describes Building The Wall as “a wake-up call about how our day-to-day decisions either strengthen or erode our humanity.”

Austin Lightning Carrothers Is a NYC based actor, director, singer, and founding member of Troup Enigma. Austin began acting nearly a decade ago throughout the Hudson Valley while working as a carpenter and farmer. Austin moved to NYC in 2023 to receive training from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Since graduating from their company program in the spring of 2025 he has tread the boards, directed an off-broadway show at the Players Theater, done a number of short films, and continues to train weekly at Karl Bury 's Acting Studio. A few favorite roles include M in Lungs, Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, Clifford in DeathTrap, Leon Czolgosz in Assassins, Edmond in King Lear, Max in Lend Me A Tenor, and Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency. Austin is represented by Ruth Gravity Artists Agency. Austin is grateful to be working alongside such wonderful creatives on the telling of this story. What excites me about being a part of this show is the timeless nature of the story and the importance that we be reminded of it again and again. I feel fortunate to be working on a project that explores the ramifications of an individual's choices on society and on himself.

Cecily Lyn Benjamin Is an actor, director, and writer with degrees from UCLA and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Film and TV credits include: A24's Sing Sing, Paul Schrader 's First Reformed, HBO's Random Acts of Flyness, the web-series, Off-Off Kilter, AFI's One of the Boys and The Friends. Stage credits include: Freedom's Last Stand (PeculiarWorks), The Revolutionists (Titan Theater Co.), Squire D. Rathbone, Esq. (NY Fringe) The Color of Justice (National Tour), Verbatim Verboten (WorkShop Thr. with guest artist Olympia Dukakis ), and NY Times Critic's Pick Interchange at the WorkShop Theater. (SAG/AFTRA/AEA) In this tumultuous world that most of us didn't see coming, we all have a responsibility toward saving our union. I am so glad that I can use art to do my part.

The creative team includes Maggie Caradonna (Stage Manager), Rebecca Conaway (Assistant Director / Sound Designer), and Elianna Kruskal (Lighting Designer).

Ripple Effect Artists Founding Director / Executive Producer Jessie Fahay , along with founding partners Jessica Jennings and Cindy Obenchain has spent nearly two decades producing socially conscious theatrical work designed to inspire dialogue and action beyond the stage Through integrated philanthropy, advocacy partnerships, educational outreach, and post-show conversations with activists and community leaders, Fahay, the company, and its committed board of directors has developed a producing model centered on using theater as a catalyst for empathy and civic engagement.

Founded as an Actor's Equity-affiliated 501(c)(3) theater company, Ripple Effect Artists creates productions focused on social justice and human rights issues, pairing performances with educational initiatives, advocacy partnerships, and audience engagement programs designed to encourage tangible community impact.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/BUILDING-THE-WALL-to-Open-Off-Broadway-with-Ripple-Effect-Artists-at-Urban-Stages-20260521)._