Gen08: William Bennett of Lincoln High
I started out playing football my freshman year and then I got hurt and I didn’t have anything else to do. (As a requirement of a theater class) I auditioned for the one-act that year, the “Pied Piper of Hamelin.”
I was like one of three or four freshman to get in the one-act that year. It’s very competitive. After that I just fell in love and ran with it.
One thing I like about it is the energy: All the energy on the stage that the actors get from the audience and then it reciprocates and the actors give it back to the audience in their performance. Just the liveliness of it and the unpredictability of it.
I got accepted to the Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film at (the University of Nebraska-Lincoln) for next fall.
We did “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (my freshman year). That was the first time I’d ever even approached Shakespeare and I just remember it being the most fun I’ve ever had.
One of my favorite shows was “This Unsafe Star: The Emmett Till Story.” I didn’t have a big part in that … but the effect I saw on people’s faces, like the reaction I saw and just the impact it had was just amazing. Just really powerful.
This February I started soccer. It was just one of those things I always wanted to do, I wanted to try out for the team and just, in my senior year, try to get the full experience of high school.
I’ve had a blast. I forgot how fun it was, just flying around and leaving it all out on the field.
It’s some of the same philosophy as theater, which I thought was really cool. We learned some of the same things, like putting it all out there, leaving it all on the field, leaving it all on the stage. Just the same work ethic.
(High school’s) been a crazy ride and I’m happy that it’s ending, but at the same time if someone asked me to do it again, I’d sign up in a heartbeat.
The best (is), I would say, the lessons I’ve learned, not only in the subjects but kind of the universal lessons I can apply in different parts of my life.
And the people, obviously. Like, I’m a senior and I’m still making new friends, and that’s just crazy to me.
One of my good friends died (my freshman year). It was actually a freak accident. It was just really tough.
Some of the bureaucratic aspects of high school aren’t too fun. Grade requirements, graduation requirements, applying for schools and scholarships and ACT scores and blah, blah, blah, blah. But it comes with the territory.
The worst part would have to be sometimes my health made it a little hard to keep up in the schoolwork.
I had a concussion in October (freshman year) from football and then I was fine until about January during finals week. I started to have seizures, unexplained seizures.
They flew me up to Children’s Hospital for week. That was a pretty scary time. That was the hard semester because I fell behind in school.
I haven’t had one for about a year and a half. I think I’m pretty good now because I hit my head all the time in soccer with the ball and … something’s different.
I have technically two half brothers, so one whole brother if you put them together. I live with my mom and my (19-year-old) brother. I’ve lived with them my whole life.
I have this huge map on my (bedroom) wall of the world and sometimes I just want to throw a dart and wherever it points, that’s where I want to go. But I haven’t done that yet.
That’s one of my life goals, to go to Italy or Australia or something and just hang out by the beach 24/7.
I love the beach. When I was in Florida (visiting grandparents with his dad) I learned how to surf. It was the most fun in the world.
The past two summers I’ve gone to L.A. for summer seminars at (the University of Southern California). I got to go down there and take some classes in writing and acting and we went on field trips to the beach and Disneyland and stuff. It was really cool, a great time.
I actually applied for a Wallace Annenberg scholarship to go there so all of my expenses were paid. The kids from Lincoln High, we were the only kids from Nebraska. So it was like “those Nebraska kids are so cool.”
The second year I went I took an acting class with the professors there and it was phenomenal. I did this one monologue and the way the professor showed me how to rethink it, it just blew my mind, like, I never even thought of it that way. So it was a really eye-opening experience.
I remember I participated in Flatwater Shakespeare Company for a couple of shows and I got paid for one of the shows. That was the first money I made from acting and it was like, “Ahh, this is what I want to do.”
It wasn’t even the money. It was just the feeling of someone appreciating something so much that they’re willing to pay you to do something you love.
I could see myself moving to Chicago or something, or New York maybe, or L.A. even, and just experimenting with that. But I think later on in life I would love to come back here to Lincoln. Everyone says it’s a great place to raise a family and I can’t say I disagree.
Mainly I hang out with this group of friends I have. We go golfing and bowling. It’s so fun. We just have a blast. Usually though, the majority of our time we spend sitting around going, ‘What do you want to do? What are we doing today?’
We started whittling, too. Out of the blue, like most of the stuff we do.
My mom inspires me a lot just because her work ethic is phenomenal.
I also get really inspired and amped up when I listen to certain kinds of music. Music really gets me going. And just all the energy of it. It’s like its own language that everyone in the world knows.
I play guitar in my free time. I just kind of fiddle around with it. It’s a little peewee guitar, electric guitar. It’s so funny.
Me and my friend want to start a band called Linus Infection, based off of Snoopy and stuff. It would just be us playing miniature instruments. Like we’d try to find a kid with a little piano and a little drum set.
Me and my friends have Iron Chef competitions for fun every now and then.
I love cheesecake. I think that’s delicious. Like I’ve never had bad cheesecake.
Spaghetti is a strong staple in my household, too. Every Sunday we would make spaghetti and meatballs and watch “The Sopranos.” It was like a little mini-tradition.
I think this is how I see it playing out in my mind: Theater will always be a passion for me. But I guess I’m not really relying on it to pay the bills. I could see myself doing films and voice-overs and stuff like that in between.
I would really love to get to a point where I could be financially stable and so then I could do theater for fun as well, and not have to worry about whether I’m going to eat tonight.
I was like one of three or four freshman to get in the one-act that year. It’s very competitive. After that I just fell in love and ran with it.
One thing I like about it is the energy: All the energy on the stage that the actors get from the audience and then it reciprocates and the actors give it back to the audience in their performance. Just the liveliness of it and the unpredictability of it.
I got accepted to the Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film at (the University of Nebraska-Lincoln) for next fall.
We did “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (my freshman year). That was the first time I’d ever even approached Shakespeare and I just remember it being the most fun I’ve ever had.
One of my favorite shows was “This Unsafe Star: The Emmett Till Story.” I didn’t have a big part in that … but the effect I saw on people’s faces, like the reaction I saw and just the impact it had was just amazing. Just really powerful.
This February I started soccer. It was just one of those things I always wanted to do, I wanted to try out for the team and just, in my senior year, try to get the full experience of high school.
I’ve had a blast. I forgot how fun it was, just flying around and leaving it all out on the field.
It’s some of the same philosophy as theater, which I thought was really cool. We learned some of the same things, like putting it all out there, leaving it all on the field, leaving it all on the stage. Just the same work ethic.
(High school’s) been a crazy ride and I’m happy that it’s ending, but at the same time if someone asked me to do it again, I’d sign up in a heartbeat.
The best (is), I would say, the lessons I’ve learned, not only in the subjects but kind of the universal lessons I can apply in different parts of my life.
And the people, obviously. Like, I’m a senior and I’m still making new friends, and that’s just crazy to me.
One of my good friends died (my freshman year). It was actually a freak accident. It was just really tough.
Some of the bureaucratic aspects of high school aren’t too fun. Grade requirements, graduation requirements, applying for schools and scholarships and ACT scores and blah, blah, blah, blah. But it comes with the territory.
The worst part would have to be sometimes my health made it a little hard to keep up in the schoolwork.
I had a concussion in October (freshman year) from football and then I was fine until about January during finals week. I started to have seizures, unexplained seizures.
They flew me up to Children’s Hospital for week. That was a pretty scary time. That was the hard semester because I fell behind in school.
I haven’t had one for about a year and a half. I think I’m pretty good now because I hit my head all the time in soccer with the ball and … something’s different.
I have technically two half brothers, so one whole brother if you put them together. I live with my mom and my (19-year-old) brother. I’ve lived with them my whole life.
I have this huge map on my (bedroom) wall of the world and sometimes I just want to throw a dart and wherever it points, that’s where I want to go. But I haven’t done that yet.
That’s one of my life goals, to go to Italy or Australia or something and just hang out by the beach 24/7.
I love the beach. When I was in Florida (visiting grandparents with his dad) I learned how to surf. It was the most fun in the world.
The past two summers I’ve gone to L.A. for summer seminars at (the University of Southern California). I got to go down there and take some classes in writing and acting and we went on field trips to the beach and Disneyland and stuff. It was really cool, a great time.
I actually applied for a Wallace Annenberg scholarship to go there so all of my expenses were paid. The kids from Lincoln High, we were the only kids from Nebraska. So it was like “those Nebraska kids are so cool.”
The second year I went I took an acting class with the professors there and it was phenomenal. I did this one monologue and the way the professor showed me how to rethink it, it just blew my mind, like, I never even thought of it that way. So it was a really eye-opening experience.
I remember I participated in Flatwater Shakespeare Company for a couple of shows and I got paid for one of the shows. That was the first money I made from acting and it was like, “Ahh, this is what I want to do.”
It wasn’t even the money. It was just the feeling of someone appreciating something so much that they’re willing to pay you to do something you love.
I could see myself moving to Chicago or something, or New York maybe, or L.A. even, and just experimenting with that. But I think later on in life I would love to come back here to Lincoln. Everyone says it’s a great place to raise a family and I can’t say I disagree.
Mainly I hang out with this group of friends I have. We go golfing and bowling. It’s so fun. We just have a blast. Usually though, the majority of our time we spend sitting around going, ‘What do you want to do? What are we doing today?’
We started whittling, too. Out of the blue, like most of the stuff we do.
My mom inspires me a lot just because her work ethic is phenomenal.
I also get really inspired and amped up when I listen to certain kinds of music. Music really gets me going. And just all the energy of it. It’s like its own language that everyone in the world knows.
I play guitar in my free time. I just kind of fiddle around with it. It’s a little peewee guitar, electric guitar. It’s so funny.
Me and my friend want to start a band called Linus Infection, based off of Snoopy and stuff. It would just be us playing miniature instruments. Like we’d try to find a kid with a little piano and a little drum set.
Me and my friends have Iron Chef competitions for fun every now and then.
I love cheesecake. I think that’s delicious. Like I’ve never had bad cheesecake.
Spaghetti is a strong staple in my household, too. Every Sunday we would make spaghetti and meatballs and watch “The Sopranos.” It was like a little mini-tradition.
I think this is how I see it playing out in my mind: Theater will always be a passion for me. But I guess I’m not really relying on it to pay the bills. I could see myself doing films and voice-overs and stuff like that in between.
I would really love to get to a point where I could be financially stable and so then I could do theater for fun as well, and not have to worry about whether I’m going to eat tonight.
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