Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo has always been intentional when it comes to the roles he picks. His upcoming film, “Sing, Sing” is proof that he’s picking roles designed to reach beyond simple on-screen entertainment.
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Directed by Greg Kwedar and starring an ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors, the film follows Divine G (Domingo), who’s imprisoned at Sing Sing Correctional Facility (a maximum security prison) in New York for a crime he didn’t commit. There, he finds purpose by joining a theatre group with other incarcerated men. But when an outsider joins the group, the men decide to stage their first original comedy.
Early critique of the film has heaped praise on the cast’s performances, but the best part of “Sing, Sing” is that it’s helping to shine a light on the real-life Rehabilitation Through Arts (RTA) program that’s been operating at the Sing Sing facility since 1996.
According to the organization’s official website, the program is dedicated to helping people in prison “develop critical life skills through the arts, modeling an approach to the justice system based on human dignity rather than punishment.”
In the nearly 30 years since its inception, the program has had a 3 percent recidivism rate, in comparison to the more than 60 percent nationwide recidivism rate, according to RTA.
“Politics doesn’t work. Religion is too eclectic. But art, art just might be the parachute that saves us all,” Domingo said, quoting Rhodessa Jones, a worker at a similar program to RTA in California, at the Brooklyn premiere. He later said of the film per NBC News, “RTA has been Sing Sing’s best kept secret for years. When you walk out, I want you to remember the resilience of the human spirit, the power of humanity.”
Sing, Sing is set to hit theaters July 12.
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