Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1531774
Ultimately, they had power over the oppressive clothing and environment. They could take the prison greens off whenever they wanted. They could roam around freely through the entire prison facility, which by the time the film was shooting, was taken over by groundhogs and ducks, domesticated by the prior prison population. They are seen in the film too. Initially written as a part for kittens, fed by Colman Domingo's Divine G, Greg and I noted the ducks during the location scouts. The Art Department immediately started to befriend and feed them on the chosen location weeks prior to the shoot, so they would favor our yard over all others and would be unafraid of the film crew on the day. Yet the most important escape from the prison reality was the theatre. When I received the director's deck for the film, I was immediately captivated by the honest quirkiness of the theatre set Brent Buell designed, where ancient Egypt coexisted with graffiti and Freddy Krueger. I feel a deep longing for such child-like honesty in art in the "free world," and there it was, created in the confines of a high- security prison. Not only was it conceived in such an impossible place, but the theatre sets were often created with the most minimal of means. In the very beginning of the RTA theatre program at Sing Sing, incarcerated men would only be allowed to use the few things they had in their cells as props and costumes, creating sets out of toilet paper, towels and bedsheets. The film opens to foliage in a Shakespearean forest, with Colman Domingo as Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream. But upon closer inspection, one can see that the set is made of items from the prison's commissary—the magical foliage is made of cut up trash bags, butterflies and birds are cut from candy wrappers, some still showing their nutrition facts. All of these materials have beautiful transparencies, creating an otherworldly, almost underwater impression, transporting the audience away from the confines of reality. As the prison management saw the positive impact the program had on the population (and even the prison guards!), they allowed more and more resources and means to create the performances. By now, they have a functioning wood shop with full access to power tools, hammers and saws, a theatre A. EGYPTIAN SET AT BEACON HIGH SCHOOL. SET PHOTO. B. BEHIND THE SCENES OF BREAKIN' THE MUMMY'S CODE, WHISKERANDOS SET AT BEACON HIGH SCHOOL. SET PHOTO. C. BEHIND THE SCENES AT DAYLIGHT THEATRE WITH SET PIECES OF BREAKIN' THE MUMMY'S CODE FORMER MID-ORANGE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY. SET PHOTO BY PHYLISS KWEDAR. A B C