Will Block, Artistic Director
For the Porters: Prince Hal in Henry IV, Parts I and II, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Posthumus in Cymbeline, Ferdinand in The Tempest, Lysimachus et al in Pericles.
Directed All’s Well that Ends Well, All is True or Henry VIII, The Two Noble Kinsmen
Will Block first joined the company with 2017's Pericles and fell in love with the Porters' unique blend of discipline, camaraderie and scrappiness. In 2022, he was named the Porter’s second Artistic Director, succeeding Founding AD Charles Pasternak.
In his first season for the company, he directed Shakespeare and Fletcher’s late history All is True, or Henry VIII. The production was critically lauded and took home the StageRaw award for Best Direction and Ensemble.
He was previously the founding Artistic Director of Method and Madness, for whom he appeared as the title character in Richard II and directed productions of Henry IV and Macbeth.
Regional acting credits include Hamlet in Hamlet, Dreyfuss in the West Coast Premiere of The Shark is Broken with Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara and Laguna Playhouse; Algy in The Importance of Being Earnest, Tom in The Glass Menagerie, Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing with Santa Cruz Shakespeare; other credits include the Sacramento Theatre Company, Sierra Repertory Theatre, A Noise Within, La Mirada Theatre, and the Kingsman Shakespeare Co. TV credits: This is Us, Monsters: The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story, The Game.
As a director and producer, Will is deeply committed to creating vibrant, lucid productions that interrogate and illuminate classic texts. He is deeply honored to be given the opportunity to do so through the Porters, who have always been exemplary in their pursuit of and dedication to excellent work. He looks forward to expanding the company's outreach and creating new education initiatives while honoring and deepening the company's commitment to nurturing artists.