Can a musical comedy featuring Hamlet and Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger change lives?

Actor, playwright, and director Colman Domingo thinks so. In Sing Sing, he stars in a true story about the power of theater. Inspired by the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing prison, Domingo plays Divine G, imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, who finds purpose by acting in a theater troupe. When a wary outsider joins the group, they decide to stage their first original comedy. The ensemble cast stars formerly incarcerated actors and RTA alumni, including Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin and Sean San José.

Domingo takes us behind the scenes of the making of Sing Sing. He also shares how he became an actor after a class at Temple University and his own Shakespeare story including an inventive take on Helena from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Colman Domingo is beloved for onscreen portrayals including Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin in Netlfix’s Rustin for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Other films include Lincoln, Selma, If Beale Street Could Talk, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Zola, and The Color Purple. His breakthrough came as conman Victor Strand on Fear the Walking Dead. He won an Emmy for his performance as Ali on HBO Max’s Euphoria. On stage he was nominated for Tony and Olivier awards for his role as Mr. Bones in The Scottsboro Boys. He wrote the book for the Broadway musical Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2024.

From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published July 30, 2024. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer, with help from Paola Garcia Acuna. Leonor Fernandez edits a transcript of every episode, available at folger.edu. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc.