1.How did acting become such an important part of your life?
Acting was never actually a dream of mine. I was 12 years old when I got my first chance at the stage. I played numerous roles in the play Rumpelstiltskin at Abell Jr. High School. After the show my speech and drama teacher told me how amazed he was when I brought those characters to life on stage. The crazy part was that I was just up there goofing off, being the natural class clown my friends and family knew me to be. I had my fair share of troubled times and bad experiences growing up, but I refused to let that define me. I was able to transfer all that negative energy, hurt, pain and frustration and allow the stage to be my outlet. Acting became my therapy, and I grew and learned to allow myself to utilize the characters to mask the true anger I felt inside. Through furthering my training, I realized I could also tell the stories of others who didn’t have the voice to speak through my performances. I’m a story teller, and I think we can all agree when I say we all have a story to tell and whether we yell or whisper, someone will listen. I tell my story so others may have hope. Having the creative license to be truthful in my storytelling is the best therapy one could ever receive.
2.What makes your new theatre program at Lawson Middle School unique?
I think the thing that makes my program so unique at Lawson is the fact that I was once them. Sitting in that seat fighting the same economic and social conditions of being a little black boy in a world where I felt like I wasn’t enough, or my life’s situations were my fault. That’s a ton of pressure to deal with at that age. In my program we don’t just do theatre, we utilize our emotions in theatrical form to self-heal. Healing from life’s hardships starts within. Being able to explore true emotions at this age is critical to our youth’s development into adulthood. Given the current political, economic and social climates our youth in the underserved communities face on a daily basis, I feel it’s important I provide them a safe space to really be vulnerable and expressive. We all are faced with decisions we have to make in life, and I just want to give my students the opportunity to make the right ones.
3.How do you balance pursuing your acting career while continuing to be invested in your HISD position?
It’s definitely a challenge. The working relationship with my Principal, Kasey Bailey (who is just simply amazing), plays a big part in it. She truly believes in my leadership in the Theatre Arts department, but more importantly, she trusts me. She knows my passion for this work runs deep and true. Being an educator is a huge responsibility. Not only do administrators depend on you but the kids do as well. They look forward to seeing me and doing the work in my class. I come in and make it a personal mission to give them 110% every day. Then I go home after the work day and dive into my career work. It’s all driven by passion though. You have to be careful because passion can be a powerful thing. Passion is like gasoline…. the car cannot function without it. But if you pour it over a house, it will act like an accelerant and burn the house down quickly. I make sure I place it exactly where it needs to be, so we all can benefit from it.
4.Where do you find inspiration when performing the roles you land?
I pull from my own life’s experiences for my characters. It without a doubt makes the performance more genuine in delivery. I like to tell people that sometimes when actors are acting…it isn’t really acting. Although you see a person crying on stage it doesn’t necessarily mean they are so moved by the dialogue in the script it brought them to tears. It could very well be they are going through something in their personal life and, at that moment, those raw emotions applied and came pouring out, and they chose to allow themselves to be vulnerable. It’s all a part of our duties as actor to tell the story as real as possible.
5.Where do you hope your acting takes you in the future?
I want my career to serve as a “you too” poster child. You too can make it out of those bad situations, you too can be great, you too can achieve anything you want, you too can be that one in a million. I would love to see my acting career lead into bigger and better opportunities so I may continue to share with others my experiences and, by some chance, help them to grow as an artist or maybe just as a better person in general.
- Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself, your career or any upcoming roles?
My character, Mr. Payton, will recur on Season 3 episode 5 of CW’s hit superhero show, Black Lightning. Coming this Christmas season, I will be starring in AD Players Theatre Company’s production of Miracle on 34th Street as well as the regional premiere of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner as I portray the infamous role originally played by the great Sidney Poitier. More info at www.kedrickbrown.com. Follow me at @Thekedrickbrown.
