USA: Film about the healing power of theater in prison rehabilitation
"Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo has turned a personal belief into a lifelong mission, he recently shared, and it's become sort of North Star for him.
“Politics doesn’t work. Religion is too eclectic. But art, art just might be the parachute that saves us all," Domingo said on June 26 at the Brooklyn premiere of "Sing Sing," his upcoming movie.
Domingo was echoing the words of Rhodessa Jones, who works with incarcerated women in the Bay Area, helping them workshop personal stories into plays, which they can later perform.
This, similarly, is the story of “Sing Sing,” which will be released in theaters on July 12.
Domingo plays Divine G, a man who is incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison located on the east bank of the Hudson River, roughly 30 miles north of New York City.
The film tells the story of a group of inmates who participate in an arts program that uses theater as a form of therapy to help them regain control of their lives. The story is based on the real-life Rehabilitation Through Arts (RTA) program, in operation at Sing Sing since 1996.
RTA uses theater, dance and music, among other art-related workshops to help reduce recidivism, which is the tendency to relapse into criminal behavior after being released from prison.
According to the program, in almost three decades it has been successful in breaking the cycle of incarceration: less than 3% of RTA alumni return to prison. This is notably lower than the nationwide recidivism rate, which RTA estimates is over 60% of people returning to prison within three years of release.
“It’s been a program that was established to help people get more in touch with their feelings and truly get some rehabilitation,” Colman’s character says in the movie, during a clemency hearing for his conviction of 25 years to life."
Read the full article by Arturo Conde in NBC News.
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