We recently connected with Brandon Wright and have shared our conversation below.

Brandon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Although I was probably always dramatic. I was not always interested in a career as a performer. I wanted to be a lawyer (some might call them performers too). I took it very seriously. I went to lawyer kid camp. Yes, that was a real thing. Then in high school I went to see my first professional play, Gem of the Ocean, by the unparalleled August Wilson. Phylicia Rashad was the lead. What I thought was a trip to see, “the lady from the Cosby show” turned out to be a life changing event. I’d made my way down to an empty front row seat during intermission, right before the lights went down. Act 2 begins with a bright white light flooding the whole stage; its about the closest thing I could imagine to what it would look like if Heaven opened up. Through the light, like the regal figure she is, Ms. Rashad emerged and began the second half of the show. The moment she walked on stage in Act 2, I started crying. I cried the rest of the play. I cried all the way home. I was sold. Days later I was in theatre class. I knew I had to dedicate my life to doing for someone what Ms. Rashad did for me that night!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

While I’m always an actor first, my definition of myself has evolved to “artist”. I have learned throughout my life and career that I can create, which is what I love to do, in a number of roles. I act, I direct, I teach, I collaborate, I stage, I curate, I troubleshoot. In fact, my multi-faceted nature is what makes me great at each of the things I love doing most. When I run into a roadblock on a show I am directing, I am able to tap into my actor brain to help navigate the challenge. When curating an artistic experience as a program or event coordinator, I use my directing eye to help craft the journey I want the participants to go on; the story I want to tell throughout the event. I allow myself to be in conversation with myself in order to best serve the project at hand!

I love developing new works! I love the feeling of approaching something that has no obvious path at the onset and working to create the road. Creatively, nothing is wasted. We learn, even from what doesn’t work. When I sit down with collaborators and other creatives on projects that I lead, one of the first things I say is – give me the $1 million version and the $100 version. I believe pretty strongly that the best ideas come out of the intersection between what we imagine/dream and what is tangible. I also find this to be a great way for everyone to speak from their level of expertise. Every voice is valid and valued and everyone has a buy-in to the most successful version of the final product.

My brand? Innovation!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

It took me quite some time to unlearn the idea that you have to be one thing…that you can only do one thing well! I was afraid to venture into other creative outlets for so long because I believed that it would somehow make me less of an actor. I rejected opportunities because of that fear. I allowed myself to be boxed in for too long. There is nothing wrong with pursuing one thing. There is also nothing wrong with pursuing more than one! I’ve found that every time I direct, my acting skills are enhanced. When I act, I reflect on the experience and use what I gain from that reflection to guide me when directing. I use all of my professional experiences to build me into a stronger educator and mentor. Once I gave myself permission to be more than one thing, I found so much joy in the connection between the things I am interested in and the work that I do.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

People are always shocked to learn that I have a Master’s Degree but not a Bachelor’s Degree. I dropped out of undergrad somewhere around my junior year. I wasn’t motivated. I wasn’t focused.

I was blessed to rather quickly begin working and building my career in NYC, but after some time that success hit a plateau. I knew I was talented and hardworking, but I lacked some of the technical skills I needed to navigate the industry. One of my best friends talked me into looking into grad school. The journey was full of roadblocks and rejection. I decided to attend the URTA (University Resident Theatre Association) auditions. Before my application was even processed I was “warned” that things wouldn’t go well for me because I didn’t have an undergraduate degree. I went anyway. I knew that if I just got in the room, the right place and the right people would find me. After the first round of auditions there is a break, and each school in attendance makes a list of the people they want to meet and see more from. During the break, the reps from 3 different schools came up to me and said some version of, “we’re interested but you don’t have a degree”. Though my spirit was crushed each time, I held on to my belief that I was in the right place. Finally, the lists were posted and while I didn’t have those 3 schools on my list (one of which I REALLY wanted), I had 5 others! I eventually received and accepted an offer to attend Wayne State University (on a full ride, btw) to earn my Master’s!

Being a creative is really a commitment to breaking barriers and doing things that seem impossible to others!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.brandonactwright.weebly.com
• Instagram: @iactwright