It is the farthest thing from a maximum security prison's sharply illuminated waiting room to a Broadway performance. However, on May 17, a group of guards and relatives of inmates went to the Green Haven Correctional Facility and did precisely that.

Scripting, Rikers Island.Photo byCorizon Connections From Flickr

Men doing time at the Stormville, New York, jail presented a performance of Keenan Scott's play "Thoughts of a Colored Man," which chronicles the day-to-day experiences of seven Black men in Brooklyn. Allegory names for each character include "Love," "Depression," and "Lust." The play played for three nights, with the players' families only being able to attend the last performance.

The Nonprofit Organization

It was created by the nonprofit organization Rehabilitation Through the Arts, which provides eight prisons within a 200-mile radius of New York City with theater, dance, music, creative writing, and visual arts programs. July will see the release of a feature film starring Colman Domingo that chronicles the group's efforts.

Acting fosters a sense of community among participants after release, according to nonprofit organizers of this month's show. According to the leaders of the organization, the recidivism rate for members of Rehabilitation Through the Arts is less than 3%, even though over 60% of prisoners in the country return to jail within three years.

The Two-Hour Play

In the course of the over two-hour play, three characters—one is shot, another hits on women for hours, and a third advises the barbershop—are introduced. Rows of chairs around the improvised stage on all four sides.

Tall murals behind the audience showed the neighborhood 70 miles distant, complete with a gigantic Nets logo, a Whole Foods, and modern structures taking the place of ancient brownstones.

Twenty thousand convicts sat in their cells outside the walls of the visiting area. However, as soon as the performance started, the audience was taken to the Gowanus Houses of the NYCHA.

Kenneth Portee's character Depression lamented the gentrification of the neighborhood, saying:

It's as if white folks have stopped expecting to see me.