The last time Twin Cities audiences saw Will Power, the pioneer in the world of hip-hop theater was performing his one-man play, “Flow,” and christening the teen-theater programming on the Cargill Stage at the Children’s Theatre Company.
That was in 2005. Three years later, Power is back at CTC with a different perspective and a new show.
“Five Fingers of Funk” is a play with music set in the 1970s. On the surface, it chronicles the adventures of a high school garage band trying to win the big contest at Dee Dee’s Nightclub. Below that, though, is a story about struggles with parents, with a tough neighborhood and within the young musicians themselves.
It’s more of a straightforward narrative than “Flow,” which told the tale of a neighborhood through the eyes of seven urban storytellers. But like “Flow,” “Five Fingers of Funk” borrows from Power’s growing-up years in San Francisco.
Power has stepped off the stage for “Five Fingers,” writing and co-composing the piece while leaving the stage work to a cast of eight actor/musicians. His relatively new role as a father — he and his wife have 19-month-old twins — informed that decision: “I need to be able to do work,” he said, “that can have a life without me being around.”
He also needed to grow as an artist.
“I’m not done with performing,” he said. “But I feel like I’m in a place in my life where I’ve got more to learn about writing and composing than I do about performing.”
Before Power exploded onto the scene, traditional theater and hip-hop seemed odd bedfellows. But quirky aesthetic combinations have been a part of Power’s aesthetic all his life.
His first theater experiences came in elementary school under the tutelage of Judith Holton, who toured and performed with eclectic jazzman Sun Ra under the name “Wisteria.”
“She came home to San Francisco in the late 1970s and started this Afro-centric, science-fiction children’s theater,” Power said. “That was my initial attraction to theater, and initially I stayed with it just because it was fun. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized more on an intellectual level that this was my place to have a creative outlet.”
That doesn’t necessarily mean carving out a career as a hip-hop theater artist has been easy. Though CTC artistic director Peter Brosius was quick to embrace Power — he calls him “generous in spirit, prodigious in his talent and vital in his theatricality” — others weren’t sure of what to make of the work.
He recalls a 2006 Village Voice review of “The Seven,” a retelling of the Greek myth “Seven Against Thebes” told through Power’s music and a DJ. The august critic appreciated the work but didn’t think hip-hop and Greek tragedy were two great tastes that went great together. He called the work “brilliant and wrong-headed.”
Power’s response is to sharpen the focus of his work and the way he presents it to theaters like CTC. Nontraditional performing artists and the theaters that would house them can work harder to understand each other, he said.
And he’s doing his best to hold up his end of the bargain.
“I like to think that I’m getting stronger at expressing my vision,” he said. “I trust my instincts more. I’m learning to listen more. And I’m learning to trust my collaborators more.”
Theater critic Dominic P. Papatola can be reached at 651-228-2165.
What: “Five Fingers of Funk”
When: Through Nov. 16
Where: Cargill Stage, Children’s Theatre Company, 2400 Third Ave. S., Mpls.
Tickets: $29-$11
Information: 612-874-0400 or childrenstheatre.org
