The Nonprofit Podcast The Important Podcast - Ep 5 From Prisoner to Actor to Helping At Risk Youth - Dameion Brown
In this episode, you will meet Dameion Brown.
At age 24, Dameion went to prison. He was expected to get out in 5-7 years. It took 23 years.
Near the end of his time in prison, Dameion took a Shakespearian acting class that would set him on the path of becoming an actor. After leaving prison, Dameion would play the lead role in Marin Shakespeare’s Othello and win several awards as a professional actor in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In addition to working as an actor on stage and on screen, Dameion’s mission is to “drain prisons of the lifeblood that feeds them.” A leader in the community, Dameion helps children at two juvenile prison facilities in Stockton California.
In this episode you will hear Dameion’s story and the lessons he’s learned along the way: from his arrival at San Quentin prison to the present where he is a professional actor, storyteller, teacher and mentor who serves others.
In this Episode, You Will Learn
- Dameion’s lesson from his first day at San Quentin Prison
- How survival depends upon paying attention and being present in prison
- Prison group dynamics
- How Dameion was reluctant to commit to the Shakespeare class in prison, but would end up seeing it through
- What it’s like to learn to act in Shakespeare plays in prison
- How Dameion went from prisoner to being a professional actor
- How Dameion relates to the character Othello
- Dameion’s favorite play by Shakespeare
- Dameion’s philosophy of loving fully with an open heart
- Dameion’s mission to “drain prisons of the lifeblood that feeds them” and how he works with children in juvenile prisons in Stockton California
Links and Resources
- KALW local public radio interview - insights on Prison Shakespeare Programs from Dameion Brown
- Artist in Residence 2019 Dameion Brown
- Common Wealth Club Speech - Dameion Brown - July 2019
- The Box by Sarah Shourd
- Ubuntu Theater
- Othello
- Merchant of Venice
- Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Stan Roth
- Nick Thurston
- Lisa Keating Photography
- N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility (aka ‘Chad’)
- Prison Population by Gender - 92.9% men and 7.1% women
- The Prison System Compared to the US Population - ...the United States now has more than 2 million people in prisons or jails--the equivalent of one in every 142 U.S. residents--and another four to five million people on probation or parole. A higher percentage of the population is involved in the criminal justice system in the USA than any othe