Meet Myles Wright | Actor, Poet & Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Myles Wright and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Myles, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
I think performing has long-lasting transformative and healing effects on anyone it touches. And under the right circumstances, it has the ability to reach a multitude of people. It healed me. When I officially started acting in 2010, I was in a very dark place. My mother tried everything to pull me out of this hole that I had fallen into. She signed me up for recreational basketball, but it failed to allay what ailed me. She then tried to get me involved in baseball and karate. The latter of which I had the potential to really advance in, but it wasn’t what I was truly passionate about, you know? Finally, she signed me up for acting classes at The Alliance Theatre under the careful tutelage of Angie Harrell. It gave me that which I had truly longed for, freedom. I could share my pain fully and openly without fear of being judged, ridiculed, or the worst, rejected. I was accepted. Theatre accepts you for who you are and then gently guides you into a place of destruction and recreation. So many people see the word “destruction” and automatically associate it with negative connotations. But to create anything you have to destroy nothingness, or the emptiness that was there previously. Societally, I think that theatre can fill the emptiness that so many us feel, but either can’t fully identify that feeling, or suppress it altogether. And that hurts me. That so many people feel as though they aren’t worthy of redemption and inadvertently don’t think that anyone will listen to their story. I want to be the voice for those individuals. I am that voice. Through any piece of text that I perform, I’m merging my story and telling it through someone else’s words. So it’s our story. If there’s one thing that this world is marginally lacking it’s unity. There is so much dissonance and antipathy running rampant that it has become the societal norm to hate. It’s a fad. I think that through theatre in all its forms such as literature, visual and audio performance, and memorandums we can heal the world by introducing them to new stories of pain, love, loss, joy, and every emotion in between. We’ve been exposed to stories from the moment we leave the womb. It’s our main form of communication. A happened which led to B and then finally C. Some people choose to negate, or dispute and of course embellish these stories, but stories will always drive us nonetheless. So how can theatre actually help the world? I think it can, but at the same time I don’t think that it can. As aforementioned, I think that telling these stories is important for so many young children who are questioning their identities in this world and who they are in relation to other people. But often times the stories are embellished, disputed, or forgotten. Above all though, it does start discussions. And I think that’s where the benefits begin. The healing. The help. By talking about what this story is about, what it means to you, how it made you feel, who it represents, etc.. These discussions promote and create spaces for people with conflicting ideals to potentially reach a communal plateau. A way to get out of the holes that they’ve fallen into. Stories heal all open wounds through words that echo the human condition. Your condition.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think what sets my art apart from others is the fact that my imagination is a powerful tool that I use. I use my imagination whenever I perform to create a new world around me. In this world, I can live truthfully under the imaginary circumstances. I also think that my energy is very strong and can influence anyone that it comes in contact with. I think that I’m most proud of winning not only one, but two national monologue competitions within the past 8 months. They were not easy feats to accomplish. It took many weeks of preparation and focus. As far as what I am most excited about, I am excited about the opportunity to tell new stories that highlight the human condition. Specifically black stories that are not often told. I think that many black stories and struggles are neglected and I don’t think that it’s fair that so many stories are overlooked.

Getting to where I am today was definitely not easy. I’ve had to do so much destroying and rebuilding of myself. And I’m still learning. Still learning patience, humility and forgiveness. I have to forgive myself for not being where I want to be. The biggest obstacle to overcome at any moment is me. And it’s not easy. Because I’m stubborn. Not only am I stubborn, but it’s about finding a balance between not being too hard on myself, but also not being too relaxed. Fostering this balance is achieved through meditating, intense focus on my desires and ultimate goal. As long as I focus on who I am and where I want to be, I know that everything else will follow.

To the world: My story is not for the faint of heart. You could swim for days if you’ve seen the amount of tears that I’ve shed in yearning and desire. And the struggles that I’ve had to deal with growing up underneath my father’s roof. I’m still learning how to forgive him. I grew up with basically 0 confidence in my outward appearance because of the things that kids would say to me and then be physically and emotionally attacked by my father when I came home. I’m a warrior. And I learned how to be one from my mum.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My mum. She has been there with me through it all and she, herself, has been through so much. From her very humble beginnings of growing up in the SC backwoods to most recently earning her Ph.D. in nursing as the youngest of my grandma’s 7 children. I think when I was born she was driving a Honda. Which then upgraded to a VW, then a Mercedes. And now, she’s had 3 more Mercedes since that initial one. She knows what she wants and she goes after it. She’s always inspired me to take risks with conviction and to follow my heart because we’re only afforded one life. But above all else, PUT IN THE WORK. Nothing will be handed to you, you have to work for it. I think that’s why I always give my all and then more. Growing up watching my mother deal with lupus while fighting my father and working two jobs to provide for us while he had none, and then finally getting the courage to leave him, she’s the strongest woman I’ve ever met. And no one deserves the world more than her. I know it must’ve been hard to leave my father. Because much like she taught me, she gives her all in everything. Career-wise, family-wise and love-wise. Imagine putting your everything into someone, living with them, having three beautiful, world stopping kids with them, loving them, waking up to them every morning, going to sleep with them every night, eating with them, and then… after 15 years, their ugly attacks. And it crashes through the roof of your house, your safe haven like an asteroid impact. And your lover starts abusing you. Your kids. Emotionally, spiritually, and physically. But you fight for the love, not with your love. For the kids. Despite the bruises. Despite the holes in the walls. Until eventually… it gets to be too much for the kids. And you have no choice, but to leave. I never think about this too much, but it happened. I was there. And my mother did it all for us. For herself. By herself. She’s the love of my life. And no one deserves the world more than her.

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWiDthcuINC6RhUOssC32bA