To be a theater major, or not to be a theater major? This was Jahmeel Powers’ ultimate question as he switched from majoring in nursing to theater arts with a musical theater minor.
At first, it seemed a no brainer.
“The only setbacks I had were from myself,” Powers said. “I was getting into teaching and theater, I was worried about job security. But at the end of the day it’s about what I love. I tried out for the drama club in high school I never saw it as a career path until my freshman year at Eastern.”
Though Powers was starting his educational years in the medical field, he decided to try out for CloseUP, a group that writes and performs pieces in response to different events and ideas affecting students.
“The nail on the coffin for me was when I was inducted into CloseUP,” he said. “It showed that there was more to theater than costumes and makeup. In CloseUP, there’s just you.”
After doing CloseUP for about a year, Powers started doing more main-stage theater. He’s been in three of EMU’s stage productions, the latest of which is “No Child” by Nilaja Sun, where Powers is playing the narrating janitor as well as one of the students.
For Powers, learning how to be oneself on stage through CloseUP is a skill he has tried to incorporate into all his roles.
“The art of becoming another person… it’s a balancing act. Becoming someone else while maintaining some of myself. You need some sort of true emotion behind a character.”
Powers had a special opportunity to incorporate a real and significant person into his most recent role.
“The janitor I’m playing is probably one of my favorite characters,” he said. “It’s the character I’ve connected to the most, because he’s a real person. He’s a character who I would idolize. He reminds me of my great grandfather… [who] was my main father figure. I kinda use [the janitor role] as a tribute to my great grandfather.”
Which is understandable, since Jahmeel’s father figure is part of the reason why he decided to it would be worthwhile to take the risk and go into theater, “The background I came from was ‘you do what you love to do.’”
Powers had another source of support though, “The theater department and how kind everyone was…[they’re] a supportive community.”
So what’s in store for this actor? At the end of the fall semester, Powers will be graduating, after which he will be attending graduate school. Powers said, “Grad school… that’s kind of the next big step I wake to take.”
As far as his career is concerned, Powers is looking at teaching as well as acting, “I definitely want to be a mix of the two. I want to teach but I definitely want to act too. The older you get and the more you do [acting], the better you get.”
When it comes to his acting career, Powers has some specific aspirations that he hopes to look forward to, “I would love to work on a Shakespeare play. But I also kind of want to explore. One type of theater I’ve wanted to try is the absurdist.”
Powers said one specific ‘absurdist’ he likes is Samuel Becket, who wrote Waiting for Godot.
“It’s really absurd! It’s a play where the characters really do nothing.”
This future star has some advice for students at EMU, both those following his footsteps into the theater department as well as students going into other fields.
He said, “Definitely get involved on campus, not everyone’s interested in the preforming arts, but try out for something you like and get dedicated. And go to all the free events you can. Not only does it look good on a resume, but it also aids in the college experience.”
You can see Powers in his role of a janitor during the production of “No Child” on at 7 p.m. on Feb. 9, 10, 17 and 18 or at 2 p.m. Feb. 11 and 19.
