The star of the new web series The wHOLE by Think Ten Media Group, actor William Brown, will speak at an upcoming fundraiser event for the Poetic Justice Project (PJP) on April 12. Brown is a longtime collaborator with the PJP and artistic director Deborah Tobola, who originally recommended Brown to Think Ten Media’s Ramon Hamilton, the producer of the new series that depicts what life’s like in solitary confinement.
The wHOLE stars Brown as Marcus, an incarcerated man who spends 23-hours per day in his fluorescent-lit cell. Hamilton cast Brown in the web series partly due to the actor’s past experiences while incarcerated in California, including some time at the California Men’s Colony (CMC) in San Luis Obispo, and especially the time Brown spent in solitary confinement. Brown pulls from his own experiences when portraying Marcus, which is an important aspect to the project. The series is designed to raise awareness about solitary confinement and incarceration in the United States by collaborating with those who have experienced it.
“When I play that role, I play the role of hundreds of thousands incarcerated right now, going through those kinds of things with the guards who aren’t as helpful as people might think,” Brown said. “Lockdown, 23 or 24 hours of doing nothing, it just allows your mind to go places; it gets crazy.”
Brown delivers a powerful performance in The wHOLE’s pilot episode, available to view on thewholeseries.com. Though the pilot is complete, the first season of the series includes five episodes that will be shot this summer for release in the fall. Think Ten Media Group accepts donations for the project until May 4 through a crowd funding campaign hosted on seedandspark.com.
Even though the project is currently in need of funding, Hamilton and Brown’s appearance in Santa Maria is still solely a fundraiser for the Poetic Justice Project, said Hamilton, who explained the importance of groups like PJP.
“Obviously, we are going to show the pilot episodes, but specifically, what I want to speak about is the importance of these projects, like the Poetic Justice Project, and the power of the arts,” Hamilton said. “Here you have a direct case of a man who was exposed to the arts while he was incarcerated, and it definitely changed his life, and he is using it as a positive, to help tell the world about solitary confinement and incarceration.”
The wHOLE also shares statistics about the state of incarceration in the United States, lining the drama with hard data regarding the issue. Everything that happens in the plot, though told dramatically, comes from real-life experiences of individuals who endured long stretches of time locked up in solitary. The combination of many stories results in one character who deals with the isolation, intimidation, and dehumanization that occurs daily across the country.
“I really want my performance to not just give people a glimpse, I want it to open the window or a door, so people get a kind of inside view,” Brown said. “I want them to be able to look and see and understand it.”
The evening fundraiser at The Market in Santa Maria’s Town Center East on April 12 will include dinner, a screening, talks by Brown and Hamilton, and a program prepared by PJP’s Tobola, who originally met Brown at the CMC SLO Arts in Corrections program. Brown joined the Poetic Justice Project when he completed his sentence in SLO years ago. The actor still considers himself a PJP performer, and he’s prepared to help the organization in any way he can, whether for fundraising events or live productions.
“I’ll always remain dedicated and focused to PJP,” Brown said. “It was my stepping stone that got me in the door; it’s the reason I’m here.”
Arts Editor Joe Payne is ready for the rest of the season. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 9-16, 2015.