Clarence Maclin: I was coming down to the chapel to deal with some business that I had to take care of while I was in the jail, and the yard had gotten closed because of a severe storm, so we was all forced to go down to the chapel to meet up. And they were doing a play down there. I had already heard about the RTA program, and there were already great men involved in doing this work. When I got down to see a play, I saw guys up onstage creating this art. I expected everyone onstage to be civilians, coming in to just entertain—like this is a zoo or something. But I saw the brothers up there, and they were creating art. And they were doing something beautiful. They were respectful, they were respected. And I wanted to be a part of that.
But it takes a year without any infractions or getting in any trouble in the jail [before you can join RTA]. And that was very difficult for me at the time, because I was trouble-prone. I was always in trouble. But I did pull it off. I took a whole year without getting in any trouble, and I made it into the program.
I can’t imagine what it’s like after you’ve been out of prison for a while, and they asked you to step back into this world—into the person you used to be years ago. Did you have to think about it before saying yes?
Of course there’s apprehension about going back into a lockdown situation, to just walk back voluntarily to hell. However, the purpose of why we were doing this outweighed all the apprehension. This message that we have in this movie really needed to get out. It really needed to resonate with individuals that are locked up, individuals that are not, individuals that are locked into ideologies that keep society stagnated. Sometimes people need to be shown how to unpack emotions. Maybe that’s what theater was created for.
What did you learn about acting from working with Colman Domingo?
I learned the difference [between] the screen and stage. I learned in a prison with terrible acoustics and a poor sound system, so I had to learn how to make everyone in the room hear every annunciation and know that I’m speaking with punctuation rather than just running over my periods. Even when I whispered, it had to be loud so that everyone could hear it. And he taught me how to bring that to that eight-inch screen. You don’t need a big, grandiose space—pull it in, and boom, bring it in and pull more out.
What’s it like to watch yourself in the film?
I never used to really like to watch myself as an actor because I see the mistakes. I see the flaws. But now I’m learning to just appreciate the outcome. It came out the way it came out, and it’s beautiful.
What do your family and friends think?
