Every week, The Mac Weekly interviews one senior majoring in an artistic field at Macalester. This week, we spoke with John Bennett, a Theater & Dance major graduating in January 2014.

Where are you originally from?

Minneapolis.

Do you have any other majors or minors besides Theater and Dance?

No, I was going to minor in English, but, yeah, I didn’t have the credits for it.

Why did you choose Theater and Dance as your major?

I knew I wanted to do it since I was like super young, and I just came to Mac knowing I was going to do it.

How did you develop that interest before you came to Macalester?

So I’m from here and I had cousins and a brother that went here, and they were involved in the Mac theater program. So I had seen theater here from, like, six [years old], so I knew that they did high quality theater, and that piqued my interest. On top of that I knew, you know, that the only thing I wanted to do was act. No matter where I went I’d be doing theater—and that’s just kind of a lifestyle thing.

Do you do any other activities, other organizations, or clubs on campus?

I play a lot of like pick up sports, primarily basketball, and I did volleyball for a while. But I played a lot of pick-up basketball. And then I have a kind of informal constant performance art piece going, with Scott Gannis, a.k.a. Reno Big Horn. So that’s probably the big one, it’s just developing, yeah developing, kinda letting everybody know about Buck Stevens, that’s me, and Reno Big Horn.

Looking back to your senior year of high school, why did you decide to come to Macalester besides the theater and dance aspect, or was that really it?

So, I’m a cheap bastard, and I didn’t want to get my mom a Christmas present. So for Christmas, she—this is her Alma Mater—for Christmas I applied to Mac. For Mother’s Day, ‘cause I didn’t want to buy anything, I accepted to go to Mac as a Mother’s Day present. And it was the biggest mistake I ever made.

Really? It was a big mistake to come to Macalester?

No, just to do it as a present! ‘Cause then I always felt like I owed her something extra.

What are your plans for using your knowledge of theater and dance once you leave Macalester?

I’m just going to try and have fun. I’m gonna try and, you know, spread the love and spread the fun that can be had with doing theater. I really wanna get a show on Nick Jr. or something, just to work with kids, and for kids, but still like kinda use it as a method of like teaching kids, like, how to be in the world, and have fun. One other note, [I] might move to the French Alps to do some physical theater with St. Bernards.