Colman Domingo on Sing Sing and the Power of Theater

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.7 • 837 Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2024

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Can a musical comedy featuring Hamlet and Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger change lives? Actor, playwright, and director Colman Domingo thinks so. In Sing Sing, a new film from A24, Domingo stars in a true story about the power of theater. Inspired by the real-life Rehabilitation through the Arts program at Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison, Sing Sing tells the story of Divine G, played by Domingo, imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, who finds purpose by acting in a theater group with other incarcerated men. When a wary outsider joins the group, the men decide to stage their first original comedy. Sing Sing stars an ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors who are alumni of the RTA program, including Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin and Sean San José. Domingo takes us behind the scenes of the making of Sing Sing. He also shares how he became an actor after a class at Temple University and his own Shakespeare story including an inventive take on Helena from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Domingo is beloved for onscreen portrayals including Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin in Netlfix’s Rustin for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Other films include Lincoln, Selma, If Beale Street Could Talk, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Zola, and The Color Purple. His breakthrough came as conman Victor Strand on Fear the Walking Dead. He won an Emmy for his performance as Ali on HBO Max’s Euphoria. On stage he was nominated for Tony and Olivier awards for his role as Mr. Bones in The Scottsboro Boys. He wrote the book for the Broadway musical Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2024. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published July 30, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited, and Barbara Bokeave.
0:08.1	Actor Coleman Domingo joins us today.
0:10.7	He's been performing for decades, but you might not have recognized his name until his
0:15.2	recent starring role in the Netflix biopic Rustin.
0:18.3	What they really want to destroy is all of us coming together and demanding this country change.
0:26.9	Domingo earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin.
0:32.3	But if you're a fan of Fear of the Walking Dead, you might know him as the con man, Victor Strand.
0:38.5	I look at a person like you when I know.
0:42.0	You are a buyer.
0:45.4	How do I know?
0:46.9	Because I am a closer.
0:50.6	Domingo's also had supporting roles in lots of movies, including Selma, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and Lincoln,
0:56.8	and he won an Emmy for his portrayal of a recovering drug addict on the HBO series, Euphoria.
1:02.6	And remember the Broadway musical The Scottsboro Boys?
1:05.9	Domingo was nominated for a Tony and an Olivier Award for his role as Mr. Bones.
1:12.9	In fact, he's had a long career as a multi-hyphenate actor, producer, director, and playwright. He even co-produced
1:17.9	James' play Fat Ham, an adaptation of Hamlet, and he's performed in many Shakespeare productions.
1:25.4	Now, Domingo stars in the new movie Sing Sing. It's about a theater program
1:30.2	inside a maximum security prison. He plays Divine G, a founding member of the theater troupe. G develops
1:37.8	an unlikely bond with a notorious tough guy called Divine Eye, whose life is transformed by acting.
1:45.6	And, yep, it's two guys called Divine.
1:48.7	Some of the things the brother was saying in the book really resonated with me, man.
	...

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