September 12, 2018
An artist’s passion A St. Louis actor/writer/ director brings his love of the performing arts to the community with an eye on the next generation
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By Charlotte Beard One of the greatest beliefs in the arts industry, particularly in performance arts, is that an artist must live in a certain part of the country to have an abundance of opportunities. But that belief also extends to having exposure to what is available in the arts. One of the many performing artists in St. Louis has proven that there are not only opportunities, but that you can make your own way to create exposure. Sir Ervin Williams III is no stranger to the stages of St. Louis or to being on screen. He has been an opening act for comedian Paul Mooney at The Ambassador, acted in the plays “Fences,” and “A Raisin in the Sun,” as well as been on stages around St. Louis performing his monologue and poetry, “The Messengers.” As an advocator for educating others, prior to entering performance arts, Williams attended Harris-Stowe State University and graduated in 2010 with a degree in secondary education. When asked what inspired him to become a teacher, Williams shared he’s been teaching his entire life. To him, majoring in education only made sense. He also expressed that in the St. Louis Public School system he never had a black male educator. “There were (black, male teachers) in the building I just never (had) one,” stated Williams. “So, I had to put some representation into the school system. That was one of the main reasons I went into education.” Williams discontinued classroom teaching in July 2018 to pursue his production career in the performing arts fulltime. “I found out I was a jeli – an African storyteller,” Williams said of his inspiration to become an actor. “I had a theatre teacher named Beverly Brennan when I was in
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Sir Ervin Williams III is a performer and booster of the performing arts in St. Louis.
college who told me you can never explain to anyone what’s inside of you to tell the story. They won’t understand because they’re not storytellers. She said you can try until you’re blue in the face (but) they won’t understand your need to be a storyteller.” In addition to having roles in many plays, Williams has been in films as well. Some of his credits are: “Pieces of a Dream,” “The Vile,” “The Masterpiece,” “Touched,” “The Soul of a Man” and “Office Business.” “That was my first featured film where we rode onto the set and they shut the entire block down,” he stated of his role in Skee Skinner’s “Pieces of a Dream.” “I (thought), ‘this is a real big deal.’ If you stay up late at night and watch one of those public access channels you might catch a few of those (films).” Williams wrote, directed, and produced his
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first play entitled “Zella” (2011) which was featured at the Missouri History Museum. “That was the most life changing experience I had as a writer because I didn’t know I was a writer. No one ever told me I was a writer. Whenever I speak publicly to black boys and girls and when (I’ve taught) English I’ve let my (writing) students know, ‘You’re a writer.’ I’ve always written. I am a poet by nature – a spoken word artist.” Seven years later, Williams showcased his theatrical production of “Zella” Sept. 7-9 at Harris-Stowe’s Emerson Performance Center. Set in the year 1909, Williams shared that the story is a merging of his grandmother and family’s lives along with his own creative imagination. “It’s one of those stories where black people See ‘PASSION’ page 2
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