- Education: University of California at San Diego, B.A., Theatre, Creative Writing; University of California at San Diego, M.F.A., Acting.
Damen was one of two U.S. recipients of a Princess Grace Award for Acting in 1996. Since 1997, he has worked as an actor, playwright and teacher for the Irondale Ensemble Project, an improvisation-based, political theatre company in NYC (www.irondale.org). He has also acted at the Lincoln Center Theater in NYC, the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, and the Granary and Firken Crane Theatres in Cork, the Republic of Ireland, among others. Damen has written four plays that have been produced in the U.S., Ireland, and Northern Ireland. He has taught courses in Shakespeare, acting, and creative writing at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, UC San Diego, Manhattanville College, Marymount College in Manhattan, numerous NYC public high schools, and the Port Stewart Community Center in Port Stewart, Northern Ireland. He worked as a sportswriter for the Pasadena Star-News, and is a self-diagnosed international and political news junkie. Damen has taught Journalism, Creative Writing and World of Shakespeare on Excel Oxford/Tuscany for ten years.
