Under their production company, “Ben & Justin Present,” local artists Justin King (Columbus) and Ben Miller-Jones (Cincinnati) continue their wait for the much-anticipated arrival of Laura Dern.
Waiting for Laura, which recently had its world debut at the 2024 Cincinnati Fringe Festival, is an absurd buddy comedy about two friends anxiously awaiting an interview with Oscar Winner, Laura Dern. Co-written by Ben & Justin, they also star in it as fictionalized versions of themselves excited to meet their real-life hero.
It’s not only Ben & Justin who will be waiting to see if Laura Dern shows up, but also, the rest of Columbus, Ohio. As part of the production of this show, its producers have reached out through various channels to Laura Dern and her production company “Jaywalker Pictures” in hopes that she might be available for a cameo at one of the performances. In fact, there’s a production note in the script that calls for the producers to reach out and strictly states that “…under no circumstances are the actors, Ben and Justin, allowed to know if Laura Dern is available for a performance” and gives stipulations for how the show might slightly change in the event of the celebrity cameo.
“We’ve always been fans of Laura Dern and we’ve written this play as a love-letter to one of the most iconic actresses out there,” says co-creator Ben Miller-Jones.
“The show is labeled as ‘a fantasy’ and what’s more of a fantasy than getting to meet a Hollywood celebrity who means the world to you?” adds co-creator Justin King.
Ben & Justin Present is a production company best known for creating 3 seasons of The Gay Spelling Bee for YouTube. BJP is self-run, not for profit, and full of delusion, much like its creators. Waiting for Laura is camp. It’s comedy. It’s Waiting for Godot if Godot were an Oscar-Winning gay icon.
