100 Dallas Creatives: No. 13 Will Power, Playwright and Mentor

Mixmaster presents "100 Creatives," in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. Since Will Power arrived in Dallas he's been busy. With a background in performance, writing and education, he's not just creating his own work but he's investing in the work of future generations. Originally commissioned to be the Meadows Theatre Artist-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University, he also became the playwright-in-residence at the Dallas Theater Center. Which means that most of his days are filled with teaching, mentoring the young playwrights of Dallas, and writing plays and musicals of his own.

For Dallas Theater Center, he's been working on a new musical, Stagger Lee, which previews January 22 and opens January 30. It's a work that delves into the myths and legends of American folklore like Frankie and Johnny, and its namesake, Stagger Lee, whose story is of a man deep in the seedy underbelly of turn of the 20th century St. Louis. We talked to Power about this new musical, playwriting in Dallas, and where you'll catch him on a day off.

You've worked as a musician, an educator, a performer, so what keeps you writing plays? Writing plays, especially musicals, allows me to exercise the musician, the performer and the educator in me. With Stagger Lee especially, it's not an education piece but it does deal with history and moving through time periods that some people may not be familiar with, particularly young people. There are performers involved and it's for them to take it and enhance it. And it's a musical, so I can use my composition knowledge. So I get to be all of those things when I'm writing a play.

What attracted you to the story of Stagger Lee? This idea of folk tales and mythology. I was working on a piece called The Seven, which was an adaptation of a Greek play, and just really started thinking about what is American and African America mythology? Do we have a mythology? And I couldn't think of any mythology that we have but I thought of these folk tales that kind of push into mythology. There are all these different versions, the characters kind of connect. It's not as expansive as Greek mythology yet, but those probably started off at one point as folk tales and then became more epic. This is kind of my exploration in pushing that forward.

How have you incorporated music into the show? It's a musical, so music is essential to every aspect of the show. It gets to greater emotional depths when the characters need to go there, it propels the story, it sets up the dance, the music. It's not everything, but it's a lot of it. It's a musical so music is central to the piece. I would even say that even when the characters are speaking, the book sections that are not the singing sections, there's still music involved There's an underscoring and even with the dialogue I've tried to create a sense of rhythm. I don't know if it's musical but there are lots of heightened rhythms outside of the songs. Music is everywhere in the piece.

In what ways do you think it will stretch or challenge Dallas audiences? I don't know about specifically Dallas audiences but I will say that it's a piece that, it's been done to an extent, but I feel like it's a blend of social and political commentary that pulls no punches and over the top entertainment. It's not one or the other. I mean there's tap dancing and lindy hopping and big numbers and, I think, beautiful ballads, but there's also some powerful social commentary. I think it will probably stretch audiences in the combination of that. Sometimes we have one or the other. You can go see something that's really dramatic or something that's kind of fluff. This is not fluff, but it's a combination of those.

How has your playwright in residency been? Highlights? It's been fantastic. I would say the main highlight is Stagger Lee, which I was working on before the residency, but this residency has allowed me to be more a part of the process. Not just writing it or composing it but also, being on hand as a member of the team behind the scenes. The administrative staff has more access to me and I have more access to them, which has been incredibly inspiring to me. Another thing is Dallas Playwrights Workshop, which is a group I started to mentor emerging playwrights, sort of help them with the craft. It's in its second year. Also being part of DTC's push for diversity and inclusion. I'm on the subcommittee and it's been a highlight to help with that. I would also say just being on hand in season planning. I haven't been able to do as much of that as I'd like because I've been busy with other things but, having a playwright and being on hand when things go down is a highlight.

You've started the Dallas Playwrights Workshop, but what are some other resources young playwrights need that Dallas doesn't yet provide? Two things. The biggest one is an MFA playwriting program or something akin to that. There is no MFA in creative writing, poetry, playwriting program in all of North Texas. You have to go down to Austin for that. But I think it's also indicative of, you know, there's a wealth of stories here but because of some of the history, there has been a subconscious move to sort of squash it. When you tell the stories you have to dig up the dirt, too. I think it's probably reflective of that. But that's the biggest thing, a place for emerging writers to train. We're trying to do that with Dallas Playwrights workshop but its once a week and we need something that's more expansive. The second thing is more opportunities for young and/or emerging playwrights to see their work, have readings, performances. Some of the most brilliant and applauded playwrighthave some early work was supposedly terrible, but there was something there that was interesting. They had the chance to do those terrible plays and readings and small productions and we need to do more of that. There are opportunities for more established artists to do this, but not for new playwrights.

Favorite place in Dallas that's not a theater? I would have to say, well I'm a little biased because I love SMU and I teach there, but outside of that, I would have to say Klyde Warren Park and Continental Avenue Bridge. Those two are my favorite because they are gathering spaces and I think Dallas needs more gathering spaces. Public gathering spaces greatly help foster innovation and innovation fosters the arts.





