Playwright-in-Residence Will Power
Posted by Adam Immerwahr on November 2nd, 2007 |
McCarter is thrilled to have award-winning playwright, rapper, actor and educator Will Power as our playwright-in-residence for the next year or so. Will has made a name for himself as a pioneer of Hip-Hop Theater, and he is now writing a McCarter-commissioned play about the unlikely friendship of Stephin Fetchit (Lincoln Perry) and Muhammed Ali (Cassius Clay). We’re really excited to have him with us for the entire year. Anyway, the blog-worthy news is that we’ve got two free events coming up with Will Power (on the Princeton University Campus), and hopefully you’ll be able to come to them, meet Will, and hear about what he’s doing.
An Evening of Excerpts
Join acclaimed playwright, rapper, and actor Will Power for a presentation of excerpts from his new play, Fetch Clay, Make Man, followed by a conversation about the piece.
“Stephin Fetchit to Flava Flav: The Politics of Shuffling, Signifying, and Satire”
A conversation with film historian and cultural scholar Miriam Petty and award-winning playwright, rapper, and actor Will Power.
Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.
2 Responses to “Playwright-in-Residence Will Power”
November 15th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Will Power at New Brunswick High School
McCarter Education is so very excited about Will Power’s residency and his participation in our Youth Ink! High School Playwriting Residency Program. Just this week, Will paid visits to two different schools, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South (WWPHSS) and New Brunswick High School (NBHS).
At WWPHSS, Will met with educator Dara Sheller’s "Search for Self" Honors classes. Since it was the final session of the residency, Will discussed his evolution as a young actor and MC into a Hip Hop Theatre playwright and performer. He also shared with students his inspiration and process in development of his two new works in progress: FETCH CLAY, MAKE MAN and THE FIVE FINGERS OF FUNK. Students asked Will questions about his process in relation to their own processes as new playwrights; topics included formatting/scripting "unconventional" pieces and how to receive and utilize feedback (especially when one is resistant).
At NBHS, Will interacted with educator Steven Thornburg’s “Theatre Production” and “Acting” classes. Given that students in this particular Youth Ink! residency have not yet scripted the first drafts of their ten-minute plays, Will guided the students through a series of in-class writing exercises to help them access their dramatic voices. With both classes, Will began by asking students to take 10 minutes to write about their neighborhoods; he asked them to describe their neighborhoods so that someone who had never been there could get a detailed sense of the essence of that specific setting. Next he asked students to think of one person in their neighborhood setting to describe; he indicated that it could be someone a student knew or someone they have simply observed. Students shared their compositions aloud with their fellow student playwrights. Then Will asked students to take their settings and characters and created a four line play that told a concentrated, complete story and included a description of the character and setting, a problem/obstacle, and a resolution AND IT ALL HAD TO RHYME!!! At first students baulked, but then Will showed them how “easy” it was by free-styling a bit. Every student rose to the occasion and created wonderful concentrated four-lined plays—some were funny, some were poignant, all were dramatic! In another class, Will asked students to take their settings and characters and to speak from the perspective of the character about the neighborhood, themselves, and about the student playwright who imagined them. [I will try to get my hands on some of the texts written so that bloggers can read some of the wonderful pieces written by NBHS students that were prompted by Will Power’s exercises.]
We are so looking forward Will visiting our other Youth Ink! residencies (Willingboro High School, Princeton Day School, and South Hunterdon Regional High School) and to seeing how his presence in the residency inspires and impacts the work of our student playwrights.
November 16th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Will Power was amazing with the young students. His confident, nurturing style enabled them to instantly find their own writing and acting “voices” through words and movement. I’m the teacher at New Brunswick High School; and I witnessed this charming and charismatic artist engaging the students.