Leland Todd Powers (January 28, 1857 – November 27, 1920) was an American performing arts educator, author, and actor. The founder of the

Leland Powers School The Leland Powers School, also known as the Leland Powers School of Communication, Leland Powers School of Radio, Theatre, and Television, Leland Powers Theatre School, the Leland Powers School of Expression, Leland Powers School of the Spoken Word ...

, he was once renowned as "the highest paid man in the Lyceum field."

Biography

Born in

Pultneyville, New York Pultneyville is a hamlet (and census-designated place) located in the Town of Williamson, Wayne County, New York, United States. The population was 698 at the 2010 census. Pultneyville frames the mouth of Salmon Creek on the northern borde ...

, Powers attended the

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

and graduated there in 1875. In 1884, Powers gained popularity for acting all the roles in plays on his own, and was noted for being "the first man on the Lyceum platform in America to do this." In 1888, he married his first wife Louise Nancy Baldwin. They were divorced in 1895 and she travelled to Europe to have lessons with

Alberto Randegger Alberto Randegger (13 April 1832 – 18 December 1911) was an Italian-born composer, conductor and singing teacher, best known for promoting opera and new works of British music in England during the Victorian era and for his widely used textbook o ...

, to whom she was married in 1897. He eventually traveled across the country and to South America, and was noted as being the best paid performer on the Lyceum circuit in America between 1890 and 1900, during which time he was managed by the Redpath Lyceum Bureau. In 1895, he married Carol Hoyt Powers, and they had two children. The family were

Christian Scientists Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

, with Carol Hoyt Powers serving a three-year term as Second Reader of

The Mother Church The First Church of Christ, Scientist is the administrative headquarters and mother church of the Church of Christ, Scientist, also known as the Christian Science church. Christian Science was founded in the 19th century in Lynn, Massachusetts ...

in Boston. In 1893, it was written that, "Leland Powers is small and active, and tropical in temperament, and he dare enact a play with great fidelity." He married Carol Hoyt on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

, December 24, 1895 in

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81, ...

Leland Powers School

In 1904, he founded the Leland Powers School of the Spoken Word in Boston, Massachusetts, joining his wife and more than a dozen staff members in teaching 140 students annually. Ten years later, in 1914, Powers had a building constructed in

the Fenway Fenway, commonly referred to as The Fenway, is a mostly one-way, one- to three-lane parkway that runs along the southern and eastern edges of the Back Bay Fens in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, in the east-central part of the U.S. ...

next door to the

Girls' Latin School Boston Latin Academy (BLA) is a public exam school founded in 1878 in Boston, Massachusetts providing students in grades 7th through 12th a classical preparatory education. Originally named Girls' Latin School until 1977, the school was the ...

. From the school Powers sold several books, including ''Talks on Expression'', ''Fundamentals of Expression'' (with Mrs. Powers), and a practice book for learners. Powers' pedagogy was credited as "offering a more holistic answer to the actor's problems," similar to his contemporary, Charles Wesley Emerson.Wilmeth, D.B. and Miller, T.L. (1996) ''Cambridge guide to American theatre.'' Cambridge University Press. p. 383.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Powers, Leland 1857 births 1920 deaths People from Wayne County, New York Phillips Academy alumni American drama teachers American voice teachers American Christian Scientists American rhetoricians Educators from New York (state)