2.1.22: "Dartmoor Prison", 1852, 1954, 1989, 2007-2011, and undated, bulk: 2007-2011

"Dartmoor Prison is the story of Richard Crafus, an African-American seamen, known as King Dick, a privateersman and gunners mate. Set in the historically accurate-and infamously regarded Dartmoor Prison, one of Britain's most notorious holding pens for Prisoners of War and domestic criminals. Once a professional boxer, Crafus is the absolute ruler of Prison Yard Number 4. At a time when millions of enslaved Africans are held in bondage and servitude throughout the Atlantic basin, King Dick has experienced a personal freedom that has only been provided to him by piracy and war. Peace only promises slavery for him which he will not endure. Now enjoined by his racist fellow prisoners to join forces against a common enemy in the War of 1812, King Dick is faced with questions of a broader meaning of freedom, trust, an ongoing future and whether he can find a home somewhere beyond the sea."



"Brown's play is sourced from the book, Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail, written by his friend and shipmate W. Jeffrey Bolster, a blue water sailor turned historian. The play is inspired by the rich tradition of American maritime literature and such writers as Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville in telling a story about racial and American identity with contemporary resonance."