Interview with Saint John poet and playwright Clyde Wray about upcoming fundraising production titled ”Tell it on the Mountain” which will be on December 14 at 4 PM at the Old Stone Church in Saint John. It is the backstory to the Nativity and will feature local singer Debbie Ashley.
Clyde shares his journey to Saint John, where he moved to be closer to his wife's family. He explained how the local community's warmth and willingness to speak surprised him, coming from a fast-paced city like New York. Clyde's artistic focus on black identity and history in Saint John was inspired by the lack of representation in the photographs he saw at the Pompadour Cafe. He advises young poets and playwrights to persevere and remain dedicated to their craft, sharing his own experiences of sacrificing for his art.
[00:00:05] I'm Mark, the NB Traveler and here we talk about New Brunswick stuff. Today I have with me Clyde Wray a local poet and playwright. We're going to be talking about his life and also those productions that he's done in St. John
[00:00:23] and an upcoming production that he's going to be doing. Here it comes. I'm here today with poet and playwright Clyde Wray. Clyde, welcome to New Brunswick Traveler. Thank you for having me. Good morning. You and I both grew up in the United States
[00:00:47] in the mid-20th century. Me in the cornfields of Indiana and you in New York City where there sure weren't any cornfields. No cornfields. You had a diverse career path. Can you tell us about your journey from swearing off of
[00:01:05] artistic life in your youth to becoming a poet, playwright and director? What changed for you? How I got to where I am today is through many types of employment and I'm farmed to saying had I known I would be had taken the
[00:01:26] scenic route I might not be here today. You know I was fortunate enough to have about 75 different occupations and often when I say that especially if I say it in a school I have to bring my social security paper that lists all the jobs
[00:01:48] under that. Because people don't believe that so you have to prove it right? And that is how and of course I was fortunate to have two four-sided professors in schools that knew where I should be going but now not how I
[00:02:06] should get there. They didn't tell me you need to have all these occupations to get to where you're going. So that I had this wealth of experience you might say that's how I got to be where I am today. You know I thought my 48
[00:02:25] different things that I'd made money at in my life were quite a few but you've topped it considerably. Well you know and fortunately my background I went to a folklical school in New York City and at that time it was grammar school
[00:02:48] and they decided that they gave me the boot. They gave me the boot. Told my parents that I was mildly retarded. That's the word we used back then and they sent me off to private school to a school called Cardinal
[00:03:04] Cushing Academy to the brothers of charity that were not terribly charitable and then I went to a military school so I have all this discipline behind me that's you know that was sort of ingrained. Talking about discipline you mentioned that discipline saved your life when dealing with PTSD.
[00:03:27] How does discipline manifest in your creative process today? Well where I was at the time after I got back from Vietnam and I was it took me about 15 years to literally get home. The body was home but the mind was not quite there
[00:03:45] and the one thing I always knew that was like my mantra in my head was I was better than my set of circumstances. I had to keep repeating it even when I found myself being homeless for a short period of time and living out on the
[00:04:05] street. I knew that I was better than my set of circumstances and I had to keep repeating it and I had to try to get out of wherever I was. I was gonna get out
[00:04:18] of wherever I was. I just didn't know how sometimes. Well you've said that a poet's job is to feel. Yes. How do you balance emotional vulnerability with artistic expression in your work? I write as simple as that. I you know I can
[00:04:36] be watching a television commercial right and I know this sounds ludicrous but I can tear up at the end of a commercial because it's made me feel bad but I know it's not gonna kill me. See that's the difference between myself
[00:04:55] and whomever else is out there. I know that my feelings are not going to kill me they're going to pass. Other things might have killed me along the way. Feeling is not. So as someone who's lived in both New York City and St. John how
[00:05:14] has the change in environment affected your artistic perspective? Well my original reason for being here was I got invited to Helifax to give a lecture and in Helifax at that time which is 20 some odd years ago now hadn't blown up
[00:05:33] to become cosmopolitan as it is now then as the old story goes I met my wife. I met my wife and as they say that's the end of the story so I've
[00:05:47] been my wife and I and my that was three kids and 20 years ago. She wanted to be closer to her parents which live here in Fredericton and we came here and the one thing that is saved that I have loved about St. John in Helifax at that
[00:06:08] time was people spoke people actually spoke took the time to speak and they still do and as somebody from New York City I am constantly surprised that people will take them in a minute to say hello how are you here in St. John?
[00:06:28] Well your work often explores black identity and history in St. John what motivates you to focus on these themes and what have you discovered through your research? Well the thing that actually happened was I used to go to
[00:06:47] Pompadouré cafe in the mornings to go and do some work and at that time they would photographs portraits up on the wall and I would sit there and I would see these portraits and I would think somebody of some color has done
[00:07:04] something in St. John and it used to annoy me that I had to sit there and look at that and try to understand why there weren't any portraits of people of one a personal color I didn't care what color it was.
[00:07:20] I couldn't think. Somebody of some here in St. John did something and eventually Stephen Tobias came and asked me if I would write something or play or something and I told him no but I would find something to do for black
[00:07:39] history and that's how that came about. I did some research I came up with we were here two years ago and then we did George E. Newell and these people were very important to St. John as Abraham Beverly Walker is that's the next production
[00:07:57] Abraham Beverly Walker was the first black solicitor here in St. John and I think the second in Canada so you had some very important people Georgina Wetzel who did last year was one of the wealthiest black women here in St. John
[00:08:19] she had the monopoly on the ice business a lot of people didn't know about that. Yes that was a very important production that you did. Yeah well I'm glad people appreciated I think we all have to be in the business
[00:08:35] of knowing something and knowing a little bit about our history and taking it out of the dungeon. As a 76 year old artist what advice would you give to young poets and playwrights just starting out today? Keep your head down
[00:08:51] keep the pen in your hand because it doesn't come quickly. You know I was the same when I started out right? You want to see your name in print so when I
[00:09:02] started out I knew one thing out of all the jobs I had and I decided that I'm not taking another job I'm gonna be in it for the longevity make a decision are you going to be in it for the longevity are you going to be willing
[00:09:18] to sacrifice. There was a point where I had to decide whether I was going to get it off a bread or get something printed. It was always get something printed and some mouse lying in the piece of bread but you have to make
[00:09:36] those sacrifices. So tell a little bit more about those early days that as you were an artist and a performer what were some of those early venues that you performed in? I'll tell you the first place I ever read. I was in Washington DC
[00:09:58] someone asked me if I would come and read at their club. I had no idea that their club was a strip club and I was standing on the bar and standing next
[00:10:08] to the pole and it was the first place I did a public reading in a strip club. The next place I did it was in a retail store so we moved I had a little band at
[00:10:22] time we moved the clothes out of the way and we did a little performance in the store. So you know they say sometimes you got to do the children circuit right that's play wherever you can get expose you wherever you can. So I know
[00:10:40] that your writing is on a daily basis because I see a lot of them that show up on your Facebook page. What productions are you working on now? Well as I said the Teller on the Mountain is for December 14th or 4 p.m. and I have to find
[00:11:00] a venue for Abraham Beverly Walker a man of works and strangely enough I have two actors at this present time studying their line and I have to get with them but that because this particular piece is served verbose the wife and the husband
[00:11:19] they had to have it six months ahead of time. So talk a little bit more about what's coming up at Stone Church. Stone Church is you know it's a lovely place it's not a church I attend it's a church that I have heartfelt for that when
[00:11:41] they asked me originally to write something for it. When you walk by now you see the scaffolding going up you know places need help and so for me it was it was an easy decision it's around Christmas time when people are
[00:11:56] into the giving mood so I decided I would try to do my little bit and do a fundraiser and I had this piece that's written for this piece by the way was originally done in Halifax at the Alderney Landing Theater back in 2016 so I
[00:12:15] decided that I would pull it out of the mothballs and do it here and in a different kind of way and try to help church you know raise some money so that they can get their 200 year old church to keep it from falling down.
[00:12:33] And the title of the piece? The title of the piece is Tell it on the Mountain and it's actually an nativity written you know most people are familiar with the nativity right but you don't have the backstory or the nativity I give you the backstory.
[00:12:51] I have a feeling that you give a lot of backstories over the years Clyde. So what's at least one thing that you really enjoy about New Brunswick? You know my Kelly my wife and I have been involved in the art since we've been here
[00:13:16] and many a person happens to know of me I won't say they know me they know of me and they speak and I have always which is the thing that has kept me here I have always appreciated the fact that people speak without being rude and I don't
[00:13:36] think I don't think most people have a and I know I shouldn't say this. I you have to go away and come back to appreciate that you know what I mean you have to you have to go somewhere so that you can appreciate what you have.
[00:13:53] I think that's a good way of expressing what's here in St John and in New Brunswick. Yes indeed I have been very fortunate to have traveled extensively and the one thing that I really appreciate about I can sit on my stoop here outside here
[00:14:12] which I do the right people walk by and they speak all the time I have no idea who all these people are people wave from their cars and I certainly appreciate that it's a good feeling
[00:14:26] just to be able to say good morning good afternoon how the hell are you I'm doing well. Well Clyde thank you so much for the time that you spent with me today and I trust that you have
[00:14:39] a good day and a wonderful productive week. Thank you very much I certainly appreciate the opportunity to to be on air with you. I spent a real joy being with you today I
[00:14:58] appreciate you taking the time to listen to the podcast if you go to my website mbtraveler.com you can leave a comment you come to do a rating and I look forward to seeing you back here again
[00:15:11] next week and oh by the way you can also buy me a copy there on that website if you care to have a great day and a wonderful week.