Read some of the articles written about 'Nother Brother Entertainment, LLC President Donald Dankwa Brooks featured in

Without a Doubt Read article below. Click on graphic for more info about film.

Writer got away with murder Dramatic: A play featuring murder, lawyers and organized crime takes top honors in WMAR's annual competition in celebration of Black History Month.   By Chris Kaltenbach SUN STAFF   The Sun. Baltimore, Md.: December 24, 1995. [Sunday FINAL Edition]   Advice to budding playwrights struggling to make that first sell: Give 'em something they've never seen before.   That's what Donald Dankwa Brooks did, and it won him first place in WMAR's 14th annual Drama Competition in celebration of Black History Month.   "Without a Doubt," a murder mystery set in the offices of the nation's most prestigious African-American law firm, beat out more than 60 entries to earn top honors. Mr. Brooks' prize: $1,000, plus the chance to have his screenplay made into a film airing at 7p.m. Feb. 24 on Channel 2.   "I just wanted to think of an original idea--that's what I try to do whenever I write, " says Mr. Brooks, 24, a graduate of Mervo and student at Morgan State University. "I've definitely never seen anything like this on Channel 2."   His story centers on Daniel Braxton, an associate in the law firm of Vaughn, Chaney and Jordan. When the senior partner is found dead, Braxton is forced by the remaining associates to defend the accused murderer.   As the investigation unfolds, Braxton discovers a disturbing secret agenda involving organized crime.   While he agrees, reluctantly, to label "Without a Doubt " a murder mystery, Mr. Brooks believes the story is more than just that.   "It's a mystery, yeah, that's the best way to describe it, and “he says,” but it's truly an original."   A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., who moved to Baltimore when he was 11, Mr. Brooks got his start as a writer putting together his own comic books while in elementary school.   He refined his craft in the advanced academic program at Hamilton Middle School.   For years, however, writing was just a hobby. But lately, he's started getting serious-- to the point where he now hopes to make a go of it as a career.    "Without a Doubt " marks his third entry into the Black History Month competition. His first, "Hardcore Reality," was about a father being released from prison and trying to set a good example for his son. That was followed by "Pastor Present," about a college graduate who returns home to help his godfather run for city council, only to discover the older man had become entangled in some crooked dealings.   "The first time I entered [the WMAR competition], in '92, that's when I decided this is what, I wanted to do," he explains. "Now I would really like to get into screenwriting, and I would eventually like to go to film school."   Mr. Brooks admits to being pleasantly surprised by his victory, but not nearly as surprised as his mother.   "She was flabbergasted, " he recalls. "She really didn't care for the play all that much, although she thought it was original."   Already, Mr. Brooks is starting to learn some of the finer points of script-writing -- including the hard fact that what you've written isn't always what gets on screen.   Friday, he and the cast members sat down for their first read-through of the play, which will have to be trimmed some to fit into the allotted 46 minutes of time.   "And that includes the credits," he says.   Then, with a laugh that suggests he's only being maybe one-third serious, he adds, "Just put my name on first. Who cares about everybody else?"   Copyright 1995 © The Baltimore Sun

Love, Rhythm & Blues Read article below. Click on graphic for more info about film.

Brooks-a two-time winner  Repeat: The Baltimore writer has taken top prize in the annual competition for black playwrights for the second time.   By J. Wynn Rousuck Sun Theater Critic   The Sun. Baltimore, Md.: December 14, 1998. [FINAL Edition]    Donald Dankwa Brooks says he tries not to repeat himself when he writes a play. But he's repeated himself in another way, by becoming a two-time winner of the annual competition for black playwrights sponsored by WMAR-TV (Channel 2) and Arena Players.   "This is twice as nice," Brooks says. The first time around, in 1995, he explains everyone kept saying, "this is once in a lifetime.' I said, "This is only the first.," A Baltimore writer and college student, Brooks, 27, is only the second two-time winner in the 17-year history of the competition. (The first was the late H.B. Johnson Jr., who wrote both his winning entries while serving a sentence for armed robbery in the Maryland Penitentiary.)   Brooks' latest winning play, "Love, Rhythm & Blues," tells the story of a 16-year old girl discovered by a talent agent, who falls in love with the girl's mother.   The play differs from brooks' others-he's submitted a half-dozen to the competition over the years-in two respects. It incorporates music, specifically rhythm and blues, and it includes more female characters, three out of four, than anything else he's written.   Amini Johari-Courts, artistic director of Arena Players, says the seven-member jury that selected Brooks' play was impressed by its youth-appeal, use of music, show business theme and the fact that "it deals with issues of family loyalty, and friendship and loyalty, and it also deals with a love story that's upbeat."   Brooks' previous winner was "Without a Doubt," a murder mystery that took top honors in 1995.   The following year he submitted a sequel, which was passed over by the judges. Last year however he came in second.   He says he learned a lot from the opportunity to have "Without a Doubt" produced on TV. For one thing, "Without a Doubt' was written more as a play. [‘Love, Rhythm & Blues'] is written more as a film."   A telecommunications major at Morgan State University, Brooks is transferring to Towson University next semester to major in film. He eventually hopes to work in TV or film.   When he got the word that he'd won the playwriting contest, he was studying for finals and finishing up a term paper on the Harlem Renaissance.   Besides having his play filmed for TV, Brooks wins $1,000, which he will probably spend on a computer. "Love, Rhythm & Blues," which will be co-directed by Arena's LaFonde Holley and WMAR's Dante Wilson, will air at 7p.m. Feb. 27 on Channel 2.      Copyright 1998 © The Baltimore Sun

Down with the King Read article below. Click on graphic for more info about film.

Brooks wins play contest for third time  Drama: His play `Down With the King' will be filmed at Arena and aired on WMAR next month.; Theater;   J. Wynn Rousuck. The Sun. Baltimore, Md.: January 3, 2002. pg. 1.E [FINAL Edition]   Donald Dankwa Brooks has achieved a theatrical hat trick. He has just become the first three-time winner of the annual black playwrights competition co-sponsored by WMAR-TV (Channel 2) and Arena Players.   Despite two previous wins, Brooks, a 30-year-old Towson University senior who has entered the contest every year since 1993, said this year's victory for Down With the King caught him unawares. "I found out the day after Christmas. WMAR sent me a letter. Usually when I won before they called me. Usually when I haven't won, they've sent me a letter. I said, `Oh, well, here we go.' So it was really a surprise this time."   Down With the King focuses on a pair of estranged sisters who discover that their recently deceased FBI agent father was in Memphis on the day Martin Luther King was assassinated.   Although the King assassination "fueled the story," Brooks said, "it's more about the sisters, and this brings them together."   Describing the play's appeal, Ed Terry, artistic director of Arena Players, said, "For Black History Month, the connection with Martin Luther King was a good thing, and it was a play about family relationships that seem to be positive. ... We've had so much trauma this year particularly, we didn't want a lot of shoot-'em ups."   Brooks, a film major at Towson, first won the WMAR-Arena Players competition in 1995 with a mystery called Without a Doubt. Three years later, he took top honors for a play with music, Love, Rhythm & Blues.   Down With the King is peripherally related to both of Brooks' other award winners. One sister in the new play - an FBI agent who has followed in her father's footsteps - also was a character in Without a Doubt. And, Down With the King was written on the computer Brooks purchased with his $1,000 prize money from Love, Rhythm & Blues. He hasn't decided how he will spend this year's $1,000 prize.   The hour long drama will be filmed at Arena this month and will air on WMAR at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17. It is the 20th anniversary play produced by the two organizations. The production will be co- directed by Arena's Randolph Smith and WMAR's Dante Wilson.   The authors of this year's second- and third-place scripts are both incarcerated. Second prize of $500 went to Skin Deep by Tyrone M. Colbert, an inmate at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup. Third prize of $250 went to Omar's Epiphany, by Calvert M. Porter, an inmate at the Western Correctional Institution in Cumberland.   Copyright 2002 © The Baltimore Sun

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