Quincy Isaiah ’17, Young Alumni Award
Born and raised in Muskegon (Mich.), Quincy also, in a way, grew up in “Whitman”—as in Walt Whitman—in the sense that he, Quincy, like Whitman, “contains multitudes.” Already he has played some of them, including Magic Johnson (in HBO’s “Winning Time”), Walter Lee Younger, and Benny (in the College’s Festival Playhouse productions of “A Raisin in the Sun” and “In the Heights,” respectively).
And there’ll more to come as the acclaimed young actor (he won a Rising Star Award for his work in “Winning Time”) considers new roles and explores “multitudes” of new verbs, like producing, writing, and directing.
Quincy came to K to pursue a business degree and play football. He played three seasons of the latter, but two junior-year experiences led him to change his major from business to theatre arts: a part in “Sketch-a-etch” (a fellow student’s Second City-style comedy revue) and study abroad in Spain.
The latter he considers “among the top three best things I’ve done in my life!” Why? “You see that the world is so much bigger than imagined,” and you learn that making money—call it “job”—is a very small part of “career,” which is the way work and passion cohere.
“That was very empowering to me,” he says. “That helped me later to say ‘Oh, OK, I don’t have to be an accountant because it’s a ‘secure job.’ Something is secure because of how you perceive it, but nothing is 100 percent secure. That was my biggest fear of becoming an actor—the perception that, well, if you’re going to be an actor, you’re probably not going to get a job.”
He fully invested his senior year at K into all aspects of theatre arts, both on- and behind-stage. He then applied and was accepted to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. That turned out to be a very expensive option, so Quincy decided to move to that city and hone his craft through ad hoc acting classes while he looked for bit roles and background work.
“Winning Time” was as much an opportunity to learn—a “master class” says Quincy—as it was a big break. He’s since acted in and produced the independent film, “Grassland,” considered various other scripts, and started writing one of his own for a short film he plans to direct.
“There’s so much more out there for me to do. Figuring out what that looks like, then building it out…that’s excitement!”