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This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley.

Prison is rarely if ever, described as a place where people get to experience joy or

explore who they really are. But a new movie gives us an inside look at

how incarcerated people are experiencing all of those things through theater.

The film is called Sing Sing and is based on a theater program inside of the maximum security prison that's been around for 28 years called

Rehabilitation Through the Arts. The movie stars Coleman Domingo as Divine G

a man incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. He taps into the depths of his

emotions and finds purpose through creating and starring in theatrical

performances. The film is unique in that with the exception of Domingo and a few others, the majority of the

cast members are formerly incarcerated people who play versions of themselves.

One of those actors is my guest today, Clarence Macklin. He first got involved in the

theater program at Sing Sing while doing 17 years for robbery. In the film,

Macklin plays a younger version of himself, an imprisoned person who is a

natural on stage but struggles with his temper and shedding the version of himself that

landed him there in the first place.

Joining Macklin as Singh Director Greg Quidar.

He and his writing partner, Clint Bentley,

first learned about the program after reading an Esquire article

...