As movie premieres go, the one for “Sing Sing” at Sing Sing prison was about as poignant as it gets. For the formerly incarcerated actors in the film, returning to the New York prison was an emotional homecoming.
This image released by A24 shows, from left, Paul Raci , Sean San José, Colman Domingo , Sean “Dino” Johnson, and Mosi Eagle from “Sing Sing.” This image released by A24 shows, from left, David “Dap” Giraudy, Sean San José, and Colman Domingo from “Sing Sing.” This image released by A24 shows Colman Domingo , left, and Clarence Maclin in a scene from “Sing Sing.” This image released by A24 shows Colman Domingo , left, and Clarence Maclin in a scene from “Sing Sing.
Plaques outside the walls of Sing Sing — a high-walled citadel of incarceration beside which trains carrying commuters pass regularly — tout its rich history. This is where phrases long ubiquitous in movies — “Up the river,” “the Big House” — come from. Historically, Sing Sing — where, among many others, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed — has loomed in the public imagination more as a symbol of harsh, Victorian age-style punishment than soulful rehabilitation.
“I said, ‘You want me to get up there in tights and do ‘To be or not to be’?” recalls Johnson, grinning. “Where’s the punchline at?” “I’ve imagined what this theater would look like for eight years,” Kwedar says. “This is the most important audience in the world for us. I just hope it’s honest.” The emotional response “Sing Sing” provokes runs two ways, eradicating some of the divisions that exist between those on the inside and those on the outside. For the RTA alumni, it’s a rare platform to show that what they’re capable of. For civilians less acquainted with the oft-ignored lives of the incarcerated, it’s a window into their humanity.
More than 1,000 inmates have since passed through RTA, which is now in eight prison facilities. It plans to expand to two more in September. The U.S. Department of Justice has found that within one year of release, 43% of formerly incarcerated people are rearrested. Among RTA alumni, that number is less than 3%.served more than 23 years in Sing Sing before he was granted clemency for his wrongful conviction by former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
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