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Will Power  

Actor, Rapper, Playwright & Educator

Will Power is an award-winning actor, rapper, playwright, and educator. As one of entertainments new shining stars, he has been called electrifying by Newsday, dynamic performer by Variety and the best verse playwright in America by New York Magazine.

Viewed as a pioneer in the genre of 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, recently completed a successful off-Broadway run at the New York Theater Workshop.

Power has received glowing reviews in The New York Times and American Theater Magazine, to interviews in VIBE and The Source, Power deftly walks the line between serious, studied actor and urban Hip-Hop MC. His skills, high-energy performances, and lyrics are matched only by his remarkable teaching ability, providing communities across the globe with tools of self-expression.

As an actor, he has been a featured guest on The Colbert Report, Bill Moyers on Faith and Reason, Last Call with Carson Daly and Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam. 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.

However, Powers skills do not stop with acting and rapping alone, in addition to composing the music used in all of his theater shows, he has composed lyrics and music that have been heard on MTV, Moesha, and Kingpina. He has also been featured on four critically acclaimed albums Free Roots, Spirit of the Roots, Bembon, and Prietos as the lead vocalist for the Omar Sosa Sextet.

Power received the prestigious TCG Peter Zeisler Memorial Award, a Lucille Lortell 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.

Speech Topics


The Artist in the 21st Century

Take it to the Stage: An Emergence of Hip-Hop Theater

Solo Performance Workshop: -- primarily for advanced theater and Hip-Hop students

Rap, Rhyme, and Performance: -- specifically designed for MCs and spoken word artists

Hip-Hop Theater: The Basics

Storytelling in a Community Context

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