Today we’d like to introduce you to Joel PE King.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, how did you get started?
I, like most entertainers/artists, started in the church. It was the music that caught me. My father, Marvin King, a pianist and singer, was the oldest amongst his siblings, who were also musicians who later founded our family’s Bible Fellowship Apostolic Church at the time. It’s currently Gateway Area Bible Fellowship Church, where my late Uncle Levi King served as the Pastor, and now his son Levi “Too” King, Jr. They were the original architects of how I heard music. Bringing all kinds of stars and singers to the church to bless us with song, I was captivated. This journey continued beyond my comprehension, with my elementary doing much of the same, but with live theatre. I had no real understanding of what I saw, but I knew that the singers, dancers, and actors brought to the school for our engagement had done their job well. I knew that I wanted to be on stage one day. But being a young black boy, growing up in a church that was still married to conservative ideas only gave me so much courage to make larger pursuits at an early age. I wanted to do it all; however, being that I had already discovered myself as a visual artist and was what some would call a child prodigy, I stayed in the safer lane. I don’t know, but God was not sparingly when deciding to put my talents and gifts in me. By age four, I was drawing anything I saw and thought I could duplicate. Faces were my go-to. I was dancing by age five. I was singing solos by age nine, and surprisingly, my vocal style was discovered by age 12, even though I was singing gospel music every Sunday for the church choir. It was also at age 12 when I discovered the ability to compose music and write plays. I can recall the first song I wrote for the play, The Rapture. It was titled Man Named God. I remember it so well that even though I lost the script that held the play, I remembered how one of the key songs went and used it in one of my current plays, Meeting at the Elder’s Circle.
Even though it was not ideal for my family and church, I would still be involved in the art world as much as possible. Upon being groomed for classical singing while in Junior High by the late Mrs. Bender and Mrs. Crawford, I continued the pursuit at Lincoln Senior High School under the instruction of Mrs. Brown and later Mrs. Adam-Taggort. My high school year was ending, and I had touched every art form but acting, so I met up with the drama school instructor at Lincoln, did some work for her, and landed a key role in the only high-school play produced. It was original, so I can’t tell you what it was named. That same year, I was requested to audition for the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where I landed a callback for a main role. I was astounded, but I had never done a professional show before. I didn’t get the main role, but the casting let me know personally that there was something that they had seen in me and wanted to be sure that I was a part of this project, so there I was, under the direction of Ron Himes of the Black Repertory Theatre of Saint Louis. I was living high. While doing that production, I was a Southern Illinois University student pursuing my B.A. in art and design. – Funny story – My mom wanted me to attend architectural engineering school. I was being slick by deciding on art and design. It was art and design, but I needed the math to think. I hated calculus in high school. But yes, I made the pursuit, and that is where my next step in my journey began.
I met Lisa Colbert Bandele, the Theatre Professor at SIUE, of how I auditioned for the Black Theater Workshop that sealed the deal for me. Even though my major was art and design, she and her colleague Bill Grivna insisted that I, at least, minored in theatre and music, so I did. That was what shaped my college life. It was either sitting down at the wheel, making ceramic cups, drawing naked bodies, singing songs for the concert choir, or learning lines for theatre. From this exposure, more people were learning about me and what I had to offer. I was enjoying being able to do what I love. After college, I had the grand idea of becoming rich, so I spoke it over with a great friend who had just graduated college. We pulled from one of the plays I wrote, further developed it, and produced it. It was well unto me that my pursuit had more divine intentions than I thought. To have sat in a room and seen the response to a show that came through me was something, unlike anything I had seen before. I had to admit that my purpose was more significant and that it was not just about the money but about changing lives. That show was A Mother’s Cry, of which I cast so many of my friends from the theatre. Some who have even done Broadway are doing Broadway, but yes, they supported my endeavor to produce my first show at my home church for $5 a ticket, with hot dogs being the concession. I must have had something because soon after that, another production company picked up the show to produce and ran it for three weeks. This is where my college advisor, Mrs. Patterson, who attended, let me know that she saw me as a well-seasoned writer. I could not have paid for a better compliment because this was my first show ever produced. Soon after that, my college buddy, who was also a supporter of my acting, saw that play and invested in it. Dwayne Bess took the show to Springfield, IL, for its first touring show. This was one year after the first ever produced. I was thinking, how amazing! Even between acting pursuits, I could not stop. I wrote more shows and eventually founded JPEK CreativeWorks Theatre in 2006, where I worked closely with my good friend, Randal Beans, to help administrate. After him were Reona Lenox-Wise, Phoenix Bell, and Delilah Stallworth-Lester. We were winning! We eventually went from shows that were seating 3 people as the audience to sold-out houses. We had gone from rehearsing in garages, basements, and living rooms to being asked to be housed at the. Zack Theatre under the Kranzberg Foundation, of which we still reside. We have now received three city proclamations, 2 cover stories, and a plethora of highlights from the shows we mounted in St. Louis, MO. Meeting at the Elder’s Circle, A Deeper Shade of Blues, A Mother’s Cry, Thru the Eyes, Issues of Love, and the fan’s favorite real-life hip-hop era and Stand Your Ground stage play. We’ve garnered support close and broad from Kimberly Moore, Janiece Steward of Lavender Life, Nate Jacobs of Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, and Nic and Princess Starr of Young Voices United in Atlanta, GA, where we are currently establishing a new theatre company, Newworks Theatre.
It wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has been all of the roads. It’s been smooth and bumpy and so much along the way. We have worked with limited budgets, even though people have compared my work to Broadway and the late greats like August Wilson with the directing style of Denzel Washington. Those are hard things to keep on the ear after a while when you haven’t unlocked the door to mainstream success. Just recently, the biggest obstacle had met me think to date. We were producing a show in Atlanta, GA, and the leading male actor had gotten sick and could not do the show. This was 2 days before opening. I take this on as the most significant challenge because most show if it needed support or recovery, I could step into the role. But this role was written for a white male actor, and I could not pull it off. It set our show back a couple of days in the eyes of the public, but for me, we lost so much of what our 3 months of rehearsal had constructed. It was mortifying. I was truly ready to be done because I was tired of getting so close to what I knew would be a big win just to be disappointed. Much like when I’ve had promoters who promised me shows that never actualized. It burns, but this is what we do, so we figure out how to grab that last bit of will to refuel and do it all over again.
Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your work.
I am an accomplished actor, writer, director, producer and educator. My specialty is creating. I am known for all of those titles listed. LOL, but true. I am most proud of most of my work. I am aware of the impact. I would tell those I think what sets me apart from others, my will, is not to be good or bad. That is subjective. I want to be the most effective of my time. I want to create an undeniable cathartic experience for all my shows. And I’ve done that with little money, lighting, and sometimes little audience. What sets me apart is no matter the highs or the lows, the messaging must bleed through, so no matter where my limitations lie, the heart of its purpose will always have a pulse.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The solution is always mine to choose.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jpek.org
- Instagram: joelpeking
- Facebook: Joel PE King
Image Credits
Shane Micheals Photography, Amy Schrohm Photography, Sorcha Augustine Photography
