Denée Benton got her start in theater. She grew up acting on stage, studied musical theater in college, and got her first big role in a stage musical. So, when she transitioned to TV with her role in “UnREAL,” it was a bit of a shock to her system.
The main difference, Benton explained to Vox, is that with theater roles, preparation is everything. “On stage, the whole rehearsal process, there’s so much preparation that by the time opening night comes, you can really be free in the homework that you’ve done,” she said.
With TV, on the other hand, the preparation process is completely different. Instead of preparing with her fellow actors, Benton found herself preparing alone and guessing what her scene partners would do. “I had to start letting go of what I had planned in my mind should or shouldn’t happen, because there isn’t a rehearsal process really … You have to adjust and trust that maybe what’s happening in this moment is actually better than what you planned,” she said. It may have been a different experience for Benton, but whatever she was doing, it clearly worked.
