Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1531774
S I N G S I N G | P E R S P E C T I V E 6 7 multiple interviews with formerly incarcerated John "Divine G" Whitfield (played by Colman Domingo) and Divine Eye (played by himself), as well as civilian theatre director Brent Buell (played by Paul Raci) to recreate the authentic look of the prison. In reality, oppressive prison architecture is far less visually obvious than one might project and it is soul crushing in a multitude of nuanced ways. The Downstate Correctional Facility in Upstate New York was our main prison location and its spacious yellow and pink sunlight halls might look benign. Decommissioned a month prior to the production's arrival, it still held the dead air, as none of the razor wire-lined windows would ever open. The whole compound was a maze, I wasn't able to find my way after weeks of walking miles inside every day. If I showed you a picture of it, you'd only see a pink hallway. It was designed to make it easy for incarcerated people to be observed and controlled, feel lonely in their cells, but never alone, always forced to hear hundreds of voices around them and assess reality from those echoes. One of the most perception-altering sets for me was the parole hearing room. At first, I looked for B C D