Will Power
“…combines the complexity of serious drama with the visual and sonic arsenal of MTV” – The New York Times
“The best verse playwright in America” – New York Magazine
Will Power is an award-winning playwright and performer.
As one of entertainment’s new shining stars, Newsday calls Will Power “electrifying” and Variety hails him as a “dynamic performer.” He received the prestigious 2008 USA Prudential Fellowship, the first annual TCG Peter Zeisler Memorial Award, a 2005 Joyce Award, a 2005 NYFA Fellowship, a 2004 Jury Award for Best Theatre Performance at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival, and a 2004 Drama Desk nomination for Best Solo Performance.
Will Power’s talent is regularly captured on television and film. He was a featured guest on The Colbert Report (Comedy Central), Bill Moyers on Faith and Reason (PBS), Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC) and Russell Simmon’s Def Poetry Jam (HBO). He was the lead male in the film, Drylongso, a hit at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and was also featured in the documentary All Fathers Are Sons (PBS).
From glowing reviews in The New York Times and American Theater Magazine, to interviews in VIBE and The Source, Will Power deftly walks the line between serious, studied actor and urban hip hop MC.
Viewed as a pioneer in Hip Hop Theater, Power has created his own style of theatrical communication, fusing original music, rhymed language and dynamic choreography to produce compelling evenings of work. His adaptation of the Greek tragedy “Seven Against Thebes,” re-titled “The Seven,” completed a successful Off-Broadway run at the New York Theater Workshop, and made its west coast premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse. The Seven was hailed as both an audience favorite and a critical success, and called everything from “brilliant” (The Village Voice), to “exhilarating” (USA Today), to “a spectacular offering to the theater Gods” (Time Out New York). Will Power’s nationally and internationally acclaimed solo show FLOW has been described as “astounding” (Curtain Up) and “theater with the refreshing aroma of originality” (New York Times).
In addition to writing and performing, Power composes the music for his staged works as well. He’s also composed songs featured on MTV, Moesha on UPN, and Kingpin on NBC. As lead vocalist for the Omar Sosa Sextet, Will Power was featured on four critically acclaimed albums: Free Roots, Spirit of the Roots, Bembon, and Prietos.