A recent visit to the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility began with a body search, metal detector screening, UV hand stamp, and a walk through locked antechambers capped with razor wire.
Standard procedure at New York State’s only maximum security prison for women on an April evening that was anything but business as usual.
In the facility’s gym it was almost curtain time for a production of Sister Act: The Musical, with a cast drawn from the prison population.
Behind the curtain, the actors and crew stood together chanting, “Energy, energy, flowing through my body” as an audience of nearly 200 family members and supporters waited in folding chairs.
The play, chosen by the cast and presented by Rehabilitation Through the Arts, leans into themes of sisterhood, self-discovery and redemption that resonate deeply with the population here.
“It allows us to step outside the box and see things we didn’t see in ourselves,” cast member Keona Owens told the audience just before the curtain rose. She encouraged the crowd to keep in mind that a prison is “not just barbed wire and brick walls.”
The performance was the latest showcase for RTA, which gained national acclaim in the Oscar-nominated film, Sing Sing, based on the program’s work in the Ossining prison.
Jacqueline Wesley-Rosa had the comedy’s starring role — played by Whoopi Goldberg in the movie — of Deloris Van Cartier, a nightclub singer who hides from her murderous boyfriend in a convent where she guides nuns in the struggling choir to find their true voices.
“We don’t have to love each other, but in RTA, there are rules. You have to show up. Each one of us has to look out for each other,” said Wesley-Rosa, who credited the program’s theater classes with rekindling her interest in acting. She’s also taking piano lessons and studying visual arts through RTA.
“I was going to help backstage,” she said, “but then I auditioned, and voila!”
The theme of embracing one’s voice was underscored by Devonnee Wilkerson, playing Sister Mary Robert, a member of the choir who finds her true self during a solo on “The Life I’ve Never Led.”
“Like my character, I have metamorphosed into a stronger, bolder, more confident individual,” Wilkerson, known as Phoenix, told RTA.
The audience, some of whom had never been in a correctional facility, whooped at the show’s broad comedy, cheered the actors’ emotional breakthroughs and ended the evening with a standing ovation.
RTA works with professional teaching artists to lead workshops in theater, dance, music, creative writing and visual arts. The RTA model is intended to provide skills for participants to meet the challenges that await when they’re released.
“Anybody can change, given the right opportunity,” RTA Executive Director Jermaine Archer told the audience just before the curtain went up. He noted the Purchase-based nonprofit is marking its 30th anniversary this year, and now presents programs in 11 New York State institutions, plus one each in Delaware and California.
The program boasts a recidivism rate of 3%, far below the national average of 60-68% after three years.
“We’ve had some experiences with these women where it just was amazing,” said Michael Minard, Sister Act’s musical director and a longtime RTA teaching artist. “You just felt this kind of connection and this desire to know and to grow and to give.”
The success of RTA’s latest production will help build recruitment for the program, said Minard, who lives in Katonah.
“I think what’s going to happen is a lot of people are going to come and say, ‘I want to join, I want to be a part of this,’ “ he said.
An original play written and performed in April by men incarcerated at the Wallkill Correctional Facility in Ulster County delved into deeper territory, said Charles Moore, RTA’s program director. “You Are Not Alone” is about suicide prevention.
In 2024, 25 people died by suicide in New York State prisons, more than twice the number in 2023 (12), according to the Correctional Association of New York, an independent nonprofit that monitors prisons.
RTA has produced dozens of theatrical works over the years, including Thoughts of a Colored Man, 12 Angry Men, Macbeth, The Wizard of Oz, Our Town, and A Few Good Men.
The success of Sister Act shone a bright light on RTA’s mission, Archer stated following the production.
“The show extended far beyond choreography and comedy; it was a powerful expression of transformation where people support one another, navigate their current circumstances, and imagine new possibilities for their futures — even in the most unexpected places.”
Visit rta-arts.org to learn more about RTA’s programs seeking to break the cycle of incarceration by empowering individuals in prison to discover their potential, rebuild their lives, and make a positive impact in their communities.
Read more about RTA:
‘Sing Sing’ Film Finds Hope Behind Prison Walls
Preparing Women for Life After Prison with Rehabilitation Through the Arts
