Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ann Perry. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ann, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had started sooner?
This is a hard question because when you are a young artist you do all you can to make a name for yourself in your field, but a part of me wishes I had had the courage to choose another career interest that would have undergirded me financially. Because I am achieving success later in life I see those early years as some that could have been dedicated to acquiring things I want now, later in life; things that are not as front of mind when you are a young, passionate artist. Of course having said that, would I be the writer and actor I am now if I had not lived all the life I led? And it is very counterintuitive to pursue Something else, when a artistic passion is burning inside you. And truth is you just never know when you’re gonna hit. So although I just unraveled my own argument, I still wonder, what if…..
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am an actor and writer from Memphis, Tennessee and I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre from UT Chattanooga and I worked in theatre in Chicago for 6 years. When I returned to Memphis I worked in local theatre and did improv for 14 years with a local improv theatre. I did Tennessee Shakespeare’s To Kill A Mockingbird, And was also in Tennessee Shakespeare’s Educational Tour of Romeo and Juliet. I also had the pleasure to perform in No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs; Blues for an Alabama Sky; From the Mississippi Delta; The Death of the Last Black Man in the Entire World; and Women in Shakespeare. And of course Live Rich Die Poor, my first one person play based on the life of Zora Neale Hurston, the famed folklorist and Harlem Renaissance writer. Wonderful side note is that after a two weekend run this year (2023) Live Rich Die Poor was nominated for four Ostranders (Memphis theatre award) and won Oustanding Original Script. I am extremely proud to have received the acknowledgement of my local theatre community.
I can also be seen in the independent films 100 Lives, The Romance of Loneliness and The Department of Signs and Magical Intervention. I am also a writer of fiction, plays, children’s stories and I have just started the torture of writing my first screenplay. Coming up next is a tour of Live Rich Die Poor. I hope to take the show to schools, colleges, museums around the country. The message of the show is powerful: “do what If you came To this earth to do. deny the grave your gifts.”
I am also creating content for women my age to remind us and society that we are still needed, viable; still sexual beings and more.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
This is more of a truth that I have had to come to understand. The saying, “if you build it they will come,” has been true of my journey. What I have found, though, that it is largely a solo, solitary journey in the building. It makes sense right, that the solo artist will have the largest benefit from the journey supposedly, so it makes sense that you are in the trenches, for the most part alone. When you create something, your solo cave can be a haven, but then it is time to present it to the world and sooooooooooo many doors are closed to you. If you can push and use your tiny but mighty network (if you have one) you are able to break through and show your work to folks. Then a small group sees your work and you have a few more folks to galvanize and you keep pushing and creating until hopefully you create an audience and you meet people who will tell other people about your work. Meantime you are working another job trying to do a good job there, taking care of children and trying to maintain relationships, all the while trying to create. This has been my story. I have been blessed to build something and push through all of the reversals that an artist can face–not of my own strength. I definitely have prayer warriors in my inner circle who believe in a merciful God and believe in what God has entrusted me to do. This small group has carried me! So you’re finally able to present a work to the public and see it ignite imaginations and hear people say that this thing you created is stunning and we want to help take this to the masses. It’s almost as if you’ve been running in the desert and you finally make it to water. And then that small body of water floats you to larger streams. I think it’s a tale as old as time, but when you’re in it, you’re amazed at all the closed doors and then you’re invigorated by the lifelines, open doors and inroads. I think the message is, if it’s important to you, stay the course, because your people WILL come. Hopefully, you will ignite a group and they will help you, but you must first create and survive all that is meant to stop you out of the gate. And the risky part is that there are no guarantees.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I am enthralled by the creative process. I love this about being an artist and I love this about other artists and that is the sheer, unexpected, captivating, dynamic brilliance that comes alive in art. I love giving and being the recipient of a jaw dropping moment that I and others will take with us for hours, days, weeks, months or years. Some of the most enthralling art still lives with me YEARS later. So, I love to create, because I love to give. I know what it feels like to be left breathless, reeling from something stunning and amazing, so I love to give that. It is a treasure to receive it and to give it. What art does to us when we are on the receiving is God given, and I love almost nothing more than being used by God in that manner.
Contact Info:
- Website: liverichdiepoor.org
- Instagram: msannperrywallace
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Annclarissaperrywallace
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-perry-1ba86013b/