Will DeVary (FCHS ’18)
A gifted storyteller on stage, screen and page
Director. Writer. Actor.
Will DeVary does it all.
Take July of this year. The 2018 Floyd Central grad acted in a production of “Richard II” in New York City, where he now lives. Then, he was the assistant director of a production helmed by Austin Pendleton, known by most audiences for his role in “My Cousin Vinny”. Ending the month, Will took the lead and directed a workshop of an original off-Broadway play in a festival of new work.
Oh, yeah. A TV pilot he was featured in, “Born 2 Lose”, continued to make its rounds at the film festivals.
Do we all need a deep breath?
Not Will. He’s grateful for each opportunity to pursue his passions and share his creativity with audiences from around the globe.
“Every day I get to work on a play, or I get to work on a set, or I get to tell stories. I’m living my childhood dream in a very real, tangible way,” he said.
And boy, can Will dream. As a young child, he used toys and other props to create tales that he then had his family film. Recognizing his talent, his grandparents sent him a newspaper clipping advertising open auditions for “A Christmas Story” at Actors Theater of Louisville. At 11, he was cast in the production as Flick, the kid who is dared to put his tongue to a cold, metal pole.
Acting, much like his character’s tongue, stuck.
“The second I walked into that building, I immediately knew this was for my entire life,” said Will, who also performed in FCHS’s productions of “Mary Poppins”, “Newsies” and “42nd Street” and now has more than 25 professional acting credits to his name. “Being in an environment where everybody was coming together to put on a play, and tell stories, and kind of play pretend just felt like the most revolutionary and cool thing.”
In sixth grade, Will produced his first novel. But he didn’t stop there. He then turned this first work into his first screenplay. He continues to create both new work and adaptations. During the pandemic, the writer helped breathe new life into Shakespeare’s history plays by restructuring them into a radio-friendly format, which he helped produce.
“The question I’m always asking myself is why now? Why this play? Why this project? Why this part?” Will said. “And I think all the great writers wrestle with that in some way.”
And his directing?
For his sophomore year directorial debut, Will received invaluable support from Robbie Steiner, the former Director of Theater Arts at Floyd Central. The director of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” had to cancel due to a scheduling conflict, and so Will and a friend offered to helm the play.
“He was like, ‘Sure. Why not?’, which is a profound level of trust placed in 16-year-old me,” said Will, who would go on to stage additional productions at the school. “I was really, really lucky when I was growing up, that I had a lot of people who just gave me the opportunities to be myself and develop the work that I wanted to make.”
After graduating from FCHS, Will earned his BFA in Acting and BA in English from Ithaca College in New York. In addition to acting, directing, and writing, he also cofounded the production collective BURN1.
“The biggest thing is to be true to yourself. And I know that’s kind of trite, but I think that’s the only thing that you have,” said the 26-year-old. “One of the wonderful things about this industry is that it’s like playing golf. Really, you’re only competing with yourself. It’s just your journey.”
Read the entire September 2025 Legacy Ledger (Issue 61).