When a siren erupts in Sing Sing – a penitentiary, as depicted in the film of the same name – Colman Domingo’s John “Divine G” Whitfield is among the men in its yard who immediately drop down to the ground, ensuring prison guards don’t mistake them for a threat. He flattens himself, contorting his body so that ankles, palms, fingers, cheeks and even the ridge above his eyes appear to be touching the grass at once. It’s as if he has to let out all the air, along with his humanity, to get down that low. That’s how prison does it.
We see the cell searches and security checks, and the rigid and soulless ways the men serving out sentences must compose themselves, throughout Sing Sing. But the delicate and affectionate film, following the people performing Shakespeare within the maximum-security penitentiary, tends not to dwell on the dehumanizing moments. This is the story about how they escape all that through the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program, which brings dance, theatre, music and writing workshops to prisons.
