As ‘Sing Sing’ film spotlights prison theater programs, similar effort in Minnesota rebuilds from pandemic

NINA MOINI: The film Sing-Sing is showing right now in theaters and in more than 1,000 prisons across the United States. The movie, which stars Colman Domingo alongside formerly incarcerated actors, portrays life behind bars through the lens of a prison theater program. Here in Minnesota, the organization 10,000 Things runs similar programs at a smaller scale.

They're bringing theater courses into correctional facilities in Shakopee, Stillwater, and Faribault. Managing director Stephanie Thompson joins us in the studio now to talk about this work. Thank you so much for being here, Stephanie.

STEPHANIE THOMPSON: Thank you for having me, Nina.

NINA MOINI: When this movie Sing-Sing sort of came to fruition and people were talking about it, what was it like? Your program is not in the movie, obviously, but what's it like to see a program like this gain so much exposure?

STEPHANIE THOMPSON: Well, it's just fantastic. I mean, the movie is such a powerful example of the arts and its capacity to move people and change lives, help people dream big, form connections with each other, and it really is about human connection. So anytime that work can be highlighted on a bigger scale, it's just a great example to see that.

And it's really impactful to see that that programming, this example of that program, rehabilitation through the arts in New York that is highlighted in the movie, the work is moving for the participants in the program. The work is moving for those who get to see the programming, see the performances. And then with the film, there's a third layer where the audiences who see the film are then moved by the experience as well. So, always wonderful when it can lift off to another level and more people can see behind the scenes what's happening and see that power and the impact of the arts,

NINA MOINI: Sometimes arts can bring things to light or make people understand certain things, or think about things in a different way, more than, you know, reading in a book or, you know, reading legislation or-- you know, it's just amazing what the experience of theater can do for people. I'm curious how you became involved with doing all of this and 10,000 Things.

STEPHANIE THOMPSON: Yeah, well, 10,000 Things-- me personally, I've been with 10,000 things since 2015 and really drawn to its mission of reaching audiences of-- we talk about audiences, of everyone, and we're often just really drilling down into what that means. When we say everyone, of course, we want to reach-- we're a professional theater company in the twin cities. So with our work in education and our significant work in performance, we're always, of course, looking to reach paying public audiences, many of whom might be quite savvy patrons of the arts or of the theater.

But we're also looking at audiences who may not have any access or easy access to live professional theater. And of that portion, people who are detained or incarcerated in correctional facilities are top in our mind. They don't have access to many arts experiences and certainly professional arts experiences as well. So that really drew me to 10,000 Things.

And then 10,000 Things as a whole, as a company, has been engaged in this work for 30 years on the performance side and then more recently, I would say, in the past 15 years starting to add in workshops in correctional facilities and then in 2017 starting to add in longer form programs a little bit closer to the RTA model portrayed or shown highlighted in Sing-Sing the movie, where we started. Residences that were 24 weeks in a year at Shakopee. And I just want to note when I say we, that program was really spearheaded by Minnesota playwright, teacher, artist Kira Obolensky, who has really worked with TT to develop those connections and those longer form residency programs in Minnesota correctional facilities and particularly at Shakopee, which is a state correctional facility for women.

NINA MOINI: You mentioned that you're bringing access to the arts to people who are either in Shakopee or in other prisons or incarcerated. What do you see people gaining, people who are participating, from having this experience while they are incarcerated?

STEPHANIE THOMPSON: So many things. I mean, you know, at the performance level, we perform every performance, every production that we produce in correctional facilities. And with every one of them, we have a list of these incredibly moving responses. So we get people saying, you brought a ray of light into a very dark world.

For the two hours that you're here, the facility goes away, and my senses come back to me. You help me feel that somebody here thinks I'm worthy of experiencing joy. So we get these really moving accounts of what it means to come in and connect to a play at that level.

We perform at St. Peter regional treatment facility, which is a court-mandated treatment facility. And there, we get feedback from the staff that there's this common experience of seeing our productions that then for months afterwards get referenced, and they get referenced in group sessions or in private conversations or individual sessions. And while the work itself was not intended to come in under a therapeutic model, it allows a common experience that's not personal to the individual.

This is not my story exactly. But we all experienced it, and we can talk about the characters. We can talk about the emotions, the choices, the consequences, in a way that is accessible to everyone in the room. When we do workshops or the longer form residencies or degree granting classes, which we just started partnering this past year to deliver, we got a response from someone just recently who took a class who said, I wish I had this experience in high school. I feel like if I could have been part of the theater training in high school, I might not be here today incarcerated.

NINA MOINI: So they're gaining something, the participants. The people who are watching who maybe they don't know, someone who's ever been incarcerated are gaining experience and learning from people who they might not otherwise encounter. What is next for this type of programming? Is it growing? What do you hope to see?

STEPHANIE THOMPSON: We would love to see, at 10,000 Things just continued increased access. Post-COVID and everything shut down, as you can imagine, there's a lot of change in protocols and procedures for access into correctional facilities. There's a lot of staff changes and structural changes with the department of corrections at the state level. So regaining that access is a big priority for us at the moment, and then we would love to rebuild-- we had just been developing for about three years our residency program with Shakopee. And in that program, we were able to culminate in a performance that was written by the participants, and we would love to get back to that.

NINA MOINI: Sure.

STEPHANIE THOMPSON: To be able to be in a in a longer range to perform, have this mix of programming where we perform in the facilities-- the participants see professional Minnesota artists in their space performing for them and are moved. They can participate in the workshops, write their own plays, and then perform them for their peers. That would be the ideal for us, and we were doing that prior to the pandemic, and we're just rebuilding that now with our connections.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely. I wish you all the best in that. This is super cool. I'm going to check out the Sing-Sing movie as well. Stephanie Thompson, thank you for being with us.

STEPHANIE THOMPSON: Thank you so much.

NINA MOINI: Stephanie Thompson is managing director of the theater organization 10,000 Things, which is based in St. Paul. Tomorrow on the program, we're going to learn about an exhibit honoring elderly Hmong women by capturing their stories. That's headed your way tomorrow at noon. Thanks for listening to Minnesota Now.