The film opens on a stage: it’s the final act of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and John “Divine G” Whitfield (Colman Domingo) is delivering Lysander’s famous lines: “And ere a man hath power to say ‘Behold!’ / The jaws of darkness do devour it up / so quick bright things come to confusion.” The actors take a bow, basking in their audience’s applause.

Backstage, the men buzz, congratulating each other on a great night as they form a line. They’ve changed into green uniforms and they’re observed by a guard. These are not just actors, but prisoners.

Sing Sing tells the story of a theater troupe inside the Ossining, New York, maximum-security prison of the same name: Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), a nonprofit that was founded in 1996 and has since expanded to seven more facilities across the state. It’s a tender portrait of the creative capabilities and emotional lives of a group of men who have been cast off by society as something less than human. What’s more: the overwhelming majority of the cast are actual RTA alumni, playing versions of themselves.