’12 Angry Men’ at Sing Sing Correctional Facility

The courtroom drama 12 Angry Men follows a jury of a dozen men deliberating over whether or not to convict a teenager who’s been accused of murder. The tense play by Reginald Rose (later remade as a film) has a high-stakes plot. Now imagine that the people performing it are themselves in prison.

In the spring of 2023, that’s what a group of men at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, are going to do. The organization Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) will stage a production of 12 Angry Men, starring incarcerated men at Sing Sing. It will be performed three times—twice for fellow residents and once for an invited audience of friends and relatives. The shows will mark the return of live theater to New York State prisons for the first time since the pandemic began.

Per its mission statement, RTA helps people in prison develop critical life skills through the arts, modeling an approach to the justice system based on human dignity rather than punishment. In rehearsals, actors don’t just memorize their lines; the production offers a space to confront issues like race, class, and identity. We say: Bravo.