Will Power (performer)
Will Power is an award-winning American actor, rapper, playwright, and educator.
Career
Power has been a featured performer on Last Call with Carson Daly and Russell Simmons’s Def Poetry Jam on HBO. He also starred in the 1998 film Drylongso, a hit at Sundance, as well as being featured in the documentary All Fathers are Sons.
A pioneer in the genre of hip hop theatre, Power has created a unique fusion of original music, rhymed dialogue, and choreography. His adaptation of the Greek tragedy Seven against Thebes, entitled The Seven, recently completed a successful Off-Broadway run at the New York Theatre Workshop.
In January of 2010, “McCarter Theatre Center” premiered "Fetch Clay, Make Man". The play focuses on the relationship between “Muhammad Ali”, the famous boxer, and “Stepin Fetchit”, an African-American actor, on the eve of Ali’s 1965 defense of his heavyweight championship against “Sonny Liston”.
In addition to composing the music used in his shows, Power has also written lyrics and music heard on MTV, UPN’s Moesha, and NBC's Kingpin. He is also the lead vocalist of the Omar Sosa Sextet.
Power also teaches theatre and performance across the globe.
Awards and nominations
- 2015 Duke Foundation Building Demand for the Arts Exploration Grant
- 2013 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence
- 2012 TACA Donna Wilhelm New Works Family Fund
- 2012 NEA Arts Works Grant
- 2012 Fadiman Award (Center Theatre Group)
- 2011 Meadows Prize (Dallas Theater Center/Southern Methodist University)
- 2010 Aetna New Voices Fellowship (Hartford Stage)
- 2009 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award
- 2008 United States Artists Prudential Fellow
- 2007 NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Program Grant for Playwrights
- 2006 Lucille Lortel Award (Best Musical)
- 2006 TCG Peter Zeisler Memorial Award
- 2005 NYFA Fellowship
- 2005 Joyce Carol Thomas Award
- 2004 Jury Award for Best Theatre Performance at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival
- 2004 Drama Desk Nomination for Best Solo Performance
- 2004 Drama League Nomination for Distinguished Performance
- 2004 AUDELCO award Nomination for Best Solo Performance
- 2002 Black Theater Network Pathfinder Award
- 2001 San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Book
- Trailblazer Award from the National Black Theater Network
References
- Power, Will. "Official Website". Retrieved 2006-09-19.
- Speakout!. "Institute for Democratic Education and Culture, Artist Profile". Retrieved 2006-09-19.
- "Fetch Clay, Make Man". "Production Website". Retrieved 2015-02-17.