Karen Weaver's Fight for Clean Water November 2017 | Page 38

You’ve Never Seen This Before
Shakespeare. It's not what you'd expect to see a performance of in a maximum security
prison. But it's happening and the inmates are the players.
Sing Sing correctional facility is one of the most well-known prisons in the nation.
Every year, there is a theater show – usually very well attended – in which inmates who
have participated in a program that brings the arts to incarcerated citizens, perform.
Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) was founded in Sing Sing in 1996, with a
mission that reinforces the belief in the rehabilitative effect that engaging in the arts
could have on men and women behind bars. Today, the organization works in five New
York State prisons bringing innovative programs in theater, dance, creative writing,
voice, film and visual art to inmates. The arts serve as tools for social and cognitive
transformation, and as a springboard to education, family reconciliation and ultimately,
successful re-integration into community life.
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