The new movie “Sing Sing” is set in the maximum-security correctional facility of the same name, a gray and Gothic structure in upstate New York that’s designed to punish its sentenced inhabitants. But the majority of the film takes place in an expansive auditorium, with vaulted ceilings and large windows that bathe the space in natural light. It is here that a prison theater group meets multiple times a week, sometimes for a few hours, sometimes all day.
When working, they are not incarcerated men, but swashbuckling pirates, Old West cowboys and Shakespearean antiheroes. They play improv games, try on costumes, recite lines and rehearse with props; they laugh, cry and embrace their many emotions, as all the best storytellers do. As one incarcerated actor puts it in the movie, “Brother, we’re here to become human again.
” The line doubles as a thesis statement for “Sing Sing” itself. Inspired by the true stories of those who took part in a unique real-world theater program, the intimate, captivating drama is arguably one of Hollywood’s most precise portrayals of acting — not merely as a vehicle for expression or the basis of a global industry, but simply as an exercise of imagining yourself to be someone else for a moment. When practiced communally, the pastime of playing pretend can yield powerful, lasting changes.
Awards He’s the hero of ‘Rustin’ and the villain of ‘The Color Purple.’ But both parts tap into his own trauma. Jan.
8, 2024 “Sing .