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I'm Jane Pauley and this is Sunday Morning. For nearly 200 years, Sing Sing Correctional Facility, a little north of New York City, has been one of the most famous and infamous prisons in the nation. But as our Ted Koppel will tell us, a new movie is shining a light on a special program at the prison, one using the arts to foster hope and forge a pathway to a brighter future. These men are all incarcerated at Sing Sing Prison. So this side is the real person and this side is the mirror.
What if we told you that what they're learning here makes it 20 times less likely that they'll ever end up in prison again? And one of them, who was formerly incarcerated, could even be nominated for an Oscar, coming up on Sunday Morning. The past year has been one of triumph and loss for Nicole Kidman. The award-winning actor talks about some highs and lows with our Tracy Smith. I'm not living like this.
I'm not living in fear of exposure anymore. Do you hear me? Actor-producer Nicole Kidman's made a career out of being fragile. Do you think part of what makes you a good actor is that ability to feel intensely?
Probably. Okay, so I said you're like a raw egg that I have to be the shell for. And if you like raw, you should see her new film. You're my baby girl. Nicole Kidman, ahead on Sunday Morning. Mo Rocca gives us a sneak peek at the Broadway revival of the landmark musical, Gypsy, this time starring Audra McDonald. Luke Burbank goes behind the scenes with Grammy-nominated pop star Maggie Rogers.
With David Martin, outgoing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin assesses the state of the nation's military. Plus, a story from Steve Hartman, humor from Jim Gaffigan, and more on this Sunday Morning for the 15th of December, 2024. We'll be back in a moment. Etsy knows these aren't the sounds of holiday gifting. Oh. Or.
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For original gifts that say, I get you, Etsy has it. Americans agree that everyone should be able to make their own healthcare decisions. You and only you should control your healthcare decisions. But the truth is, attacks on reproductive healthcare, including abortion, are only intensifying. That's why your gift to Planned Parenthood is so important right now. No matter the battle, no matter the stakes, no matter what, Planned Parenthood is there. Protect our rights, protect our healthcare.
Make your gift to Planned Parenthood at plannedparenthood.org slash protect. To begin this morning, our colleague, senior contributor, Ted Koppel, tells about the power of the arts to instill hope and realize dreams in a most unlikely place. Sing Sing, 40 miles and a world away from New York City. For almost 200 years, a grim monument to the theory that harsh discipline discourages former inmates from returning to a life of crime. It's a flawed theory.
A national study by the Department of Justice found that 60% of former inmates are back behind bars within three years, which is what gives the movie Sing Sing such resonance. The world expects brothers like you and I to walk in with our heads held down. No, but you got to walk in like a king.
Everything is yours. I'm Divine Eye. This is my theater. Give him some love, give him some love. Before he got a taste for acting, Clarence Macklin, who came to be known as Divine Eye, was a violent, knife-wielding, drug-dealing inmate at Sing Sing. Whether it's his nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Now, he's appearing as a version of himself in a critically acclaimed movie about a prison theater program, the movie starring a Hollywood veteran, Coleman Domingo. You got to admit that I murdered that Hamlet scene, bro. Shakespeare is in his grave right now.
He rolled over. You did your thing, beloved. In fact, 85% of the cast members in the film are what's referred to these days as formally incarcerated. You happy with the movie? I'm loving the movie. I'm loving the reaction, the acceptance, the way that people get it. Well, it's got to be a big change for you. I mean, you were always the outlaw and now you're the star. Yeah, it is a big change.
It's a beautiful thing. On a recent evening in November, we visited Sing Sing Prison with Macklin and John Whitfield, the man he credits for his transformation. Whitfield, known as Divine G, was an award-winning author in prison and a founding member of Sing Sing's theater program. This is the man Coleman Domingo portrays in the movie. Without this guy?
I thought he would still be in and out of prison. Never would have changed my life had it not been for this brother, being in his tenacity about getting me into the program. Getting him into the program, RTA, Rehabilitation Through the Arts, that took some doing. But he eventually came around and he came down and he experimented.
And the minute he got on that stage and got bitten by the bug, I couldn't shut him up. The two Divines, both out of Sing Sing for a dozen years now, returned as guests to meet with members of the current RTA class and a couple of civilian volunteers. Perhaps nowhere in the world are the actual Divines better known and more widely admired than here. I had a patch down.
Yeah, I'm definitely down. I've been doing this in about 12 years, man. This was a warm-up exercise and the Divines jumped right in. Chicken. Fried. Rice. Chicken. Fried. Rice. Chicken.
Faster. Fried. Rice. Chicken. Fried. Rice. Now, hold on. Can you explain to me what the hell that was all about? It was all clear about communication, about keeping eye contact.
