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(PLASTIC RUSTLING)
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
MAN: For aught that I could ever read,
could ever hear by tale or history,
the course of true love never did run smooth.
But either it was different in blood or else misgraffed in respect of years,
or else it stood upon the choice of friends,
or if there were a sympathy in choice,
war, death or sickness did lay siege to it,
making it momentany as a sound,
swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
brief as the lightning in the collied night,
that, in a spleen, unfolds both Heaven and Earth.
And, ere a man has power to say, "Behold!"
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
The jaws of darkness do devour it up.
So quick bright things come to confusion.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
- CAST MEMBER: Yo, we got you, we got you. - Mike Mike, you killed it tonight, man.
MIKE MIKE: Don't I do it every time though?
CAST MEMBER: Yeah, that's true.
But you could have definitely used that same energy
for opening night that you had tonight.
- MIKE MIKE: I'm gonna let that one go. - CAST MEMBER: Yeah, I know, I know.
(MIKE MIKE LAUGHS)
You good?
Yeah.
Okay, I'm gonna take off.
All right.
(DIVINE G LAUGHS)
You gonna bust outta here? All right.
(SOMBER CELLO MUSIC PLAYING)
GUARD: B block, step forward.
(SOMBER CELLO MUSIC CONTINUES)
(MEN'S FOOTSTEPS THUMPING)
(SOMBER CELLO MUSIC PLAYING)
MAN: Hey, fuck you, CO.
Who the fuck said that?
What the fuck you doin', man?
No fucking cigarettes.
(SOMBER CELLO MUSIC PLAYING)
(TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACKING)
(SOMBER CELLO MUSIC PLAYING)
(INSECTS CHIRPING)
(SOMBER CELLO MUSIC PLAYING)
- (BUZZER BLARING) - (VIOLIN MUSIC PLAYING)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(TRAIN ENGINE REVVING)
(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING)
(MEN CHATTERING)
Um, excuse me.
You know, I've been trying to catch you in the yard, man.
It's been kind of hard, you know?
And basically I wanted to know,
would you mind signing, you know, this book, man?
Oh, man.
You from-- Wait, you from Rikers?
Yeah. Yeah, man. I did two years on the Island, man.
Very popular there.
Yeah, yeah. It did really good there, man.
- Got a pen? - Oh yeah, absolutely.
- Yeah, well, you got it right there? - Ever ready, yeah, man.
(BOTH LAUGH)
I really appreciate this, man.
That's me. G.
- Yeah. - Put a little star right there for you.
- D-DAN: Yeah, man. - MIKE MIKE: Ooh wee!
(CLAPPING)
I'm still flying high, you feel me?
Still flying high.
That monologue had everybody paying attention.
- What monologue, mine? - Divine G, Divine G.
Coldest shit he's done, right?
No, I was all right, I was all right.
But we still got more work to do I think, all right?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
What do you mean, "No, no, no, no"?
Let's bask in it for a minute.
Those transitions were rough though. Hold on.
Parate con easy.
(GROUP LAUGHING)
Let's just enjoy it for a minute.
I still just remember the feeling being on the stage.
D-DAN: It does feel good.
You always gotta be onto the next.
All right. Okay, I hear you.
So why don't we just go over the wait list?
- All right? See who co-- - We can do that.
- See who can move up. All right? - Okay.
- Easy, man. - All right, cool. Here we go.
- Just gotta make things better. - Who we got?
We got, uh, Curtis Cross.
- Curtis Cross. - Who's that?
- D-DAN: I don't think so. - What?
MIKE MIKE: I'm with you.
Short answer, hell no.
What's the long answer?
The long answer is he one of them dudes,
he always primping and propping, you know.
He's gonna step in here, sit right there,
try and take over every time we put him in anything.
Yeah, but he don't think it's a hot seat.
D-DAN: He only wants to sit next to the females.
He makes women feel uncomfortable.
Got you. All right. Okay. All right, how about this?
We have, uh... Now this is his second time.
MIKE MIKE: Who?
Is, uh, Divine Eye.
- D-DAN: Divine Eye. - Mm-mm.
- Eye... From Mount Vernon? - D-DAN: I don't think he's ready.
The brother's smart. You gotta admit it though.
He teaches history class at the NAACP.
I'm sure there's a lot of smart drug dealers in the yard.
- (GROUP CHATTERING) - What he may need from us is
- to put that energy into this program. - Divine G.
Divine G, you gonna vouch for him?
I'll vouch for the interview.
JJ: Just for the interview?
Yeah, for the interview.
- And the rest is on him. - Him getting in, it's up to us.
- Yeah, we'll give it to you. - MIKE MIKE: Always tryna to save somebody.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Mike Mike, you go check him out with me.
See what's up.
- You and me? - Yeah.
- (GROUP CHUCKLING) - DIVINE G: Check him out.
(GUARD'S RADIO CHATTERING)
What's up? Make sure done get that paper to me, right?
Oh, shit, yo. I gotta go do something real quick.
Damn.
The fuck's he gotta do?
What's up, birdie?
- Hey, man. - (DIVINE EYE CLAPS)
That little jump shot you did...
- MAN: Yeah? You saw that? - It was nice, yeah.
You got my shit?
- Oh yeah. Um, yeah. - Yeah, the shit I gave you. You got it?
- I got it. - Yeah. Get it.
MIKE MIKE: Just a young dude.
Here we go.
DIVINE G: Always a young white boy.
MIKE MIKE: You really wanna watch this?
Word. Well, what is this though?
MAN: What?
What? What you mean, "What"? What the fuck is this?
This ain't fucking what I gave you. Do you know...
- This is-- This is fucking aspirin. - That has not come out of my pocket.
This is not what the-- You know what I gave you?
- No. - Not fucking aspirin.
Worth $500.
This is $500.
- Did you know that, brother? - No, no.
I'm gonna be needing it. I don't give a fuck what was in your pocket.
I don't care where you had it or who you know, or none...
I don't know who's fucking you,
but you not gonna fuck me out of 500.
- I'm not trying to fuck you... - I'm gonna be needing all of that.
- You heard what I said? - MAN: Look, I-I-I--
I don't care what the fuck you's talking about right now.
This what's going on, $500.
Don't care how you get it.
Don't give a fuck what you got to do to get it.
Get my fucking bread to me, you heard what I said?
- MAN: I can't get you $500. - You're going to get me $500.
You're gonna do whatever the fuck you got to do.
I don't give a fuck what you got to do.
You're gonna do that shit to get my fucking bread.
You heard what I said?
Or I'm gonna tear your fucking face off in here.
Now here. Take this bullshit and get the fuck out my face.
Go get my money.
- Peace, King. Peace. What's happening? - Peace, brother. Hey.
That was really fucked up.
Yeah, well, shit happens, man, you know.
Dude gonna get schooled by somebody somewhere,
so, you know, I'm just charging for the lessons, homie.
MIKE MIKE: Expensive lesson.
Listen, you signed up for the RTA program.
- Yeah. Yeah. - And we have a few spots open.
Yeah, just like one or two and that's it.
And we wanted to know if you wanted to put those acting skills
that we just saw down there to some good use?
- What, that? - Yeah.
Y'all thought that was acting?
Yeah, man.
You ain't seen nothing yet.
All right.
So why'd you sign up for the program?
Yeah, you know, you got some pretty volunteers
I saw up on that stage.
Chicks, y'all got up in here.
Yeah, man. It's not really like that.
They're our colleagues.
Do I need a reason? Do I really need a reason?
- MIKE MIKE: Yeah. - Well, we just...
I'm just asking you to be honest.
- Honest, huh? - Yeah.
All right.
Well, one day I came across a book, man,
on keeplock in my cell,
so I ain't got shit else to do.
So I got this book, cracked it open,
and some of the things the brother was saying in the book
really resonated with me, man.
I mean, the brother said... What'd the brother say?
He said, "When we are born,
we cry because we're born to a stage of fools."
And I said, yo, whoever wrote this, man,
had to did a bid before, you know?
- Yeah. - So...
King Lear just fell off of a library cart,
and you just happened to pick it up and read a few pages.
Yeah. Shit funny, right?
- Yeah. - Huh.
We'll be in touch.
All right.
Stay up.
Okay, he knows verse.
Yeah.
GROUP MEMBER: Two and a half hours?
- (MAN CHUCKLING) - (GROUP CHATTERING)
(HANDS CLAPPING)
MIKE MIKE: He called me an old man just a second ago.
- (GROUP MEMBER HUMMING) - (GROUP CHATTERING CONTINUES)
(DOOR OPENS, SHUTS)
- How much you want? - What you got?
GROUP MEMBER: Yeah, man, I'm just holding, uh...
Hello, everybody!
(GROUP CHEERING)
(GROUP APPLAUDING)
Good to see some familiar faces.
For those of you who don't know me,
my name is Brent,
and I'll be at your service
as your director for whatever you decide to do
for your upcoming production.
But there'll be plenty of time for all that later.
Right now, let's just warm ourselves up.
We're gonna warm up the space. Warm up your instruments.
I want everybody to start walking around like you just won the lottery.
- Yeah! - Whoo!
- Oh, yeah! - Yeah!
How about a zombie? What does a zombie walk like?
There! I like-- Oh, that's--
GROUP MEMBER: Basehead, that's all that is.
BRENT: Some of your best work, my friends!
- (ZOMBIES GROWLING) - ♪ Doh doh, doh doh doh doh ♪
BRENT: How about if you're walking on some hot coals?
Hot coals.
- Hot coals. - MAN: Hot coals.
Gentlemen, congratulations on Midsummer.
(GROUP CHEERING)
(GROUP CLAPPING)
I mean, I gotta say, Shakespeare,
you guys did beautiful work.
You should all be proud. Really.
- MAN: Not easy. - Oh, yeah.
So have you decided what's next?
We know what it won't be.
No more Shakespeare.
What? I like Shakespeare.
- We can do West Side Story. - MIKE MIKE: Not back-to-back.
- MIKE MIKE: Sacrifice? - MOSI: Wizard of Oz?
August Wilson's good...
Why don't we do one of Divine G's plays?
- Yes. - Time we take it back to one of our own.
- MAN: Please. - Why don't we talk about it?
- DIVINE G: Nah. - BRENT: I love that idea.
No, no, no. I don't know about that.
I don't know about that.
Well, wait. I-- Oh, pressure's on.
Okay, well, how about...
I don't know if it's ready, but all right. I just finished one.
BRENT: Okay.
Now that he just put my business in the streets.
It's called Fine Print.
It's a saga of Zabar Turner. He's a record producer.
It's all about him getting tricked
into giving up his record studio
by a conniving Fast Freddy.
It's a story of the dangers of overzealous ambition.
GROUP: Mmm.
And how all relationships under heaven contain...
Fine Print.
- DIVINE G: There we go! - I like it.
- GROUP MEMBER: Fine Print! - (GROUP LAUGHS)
BRENT: You know what? That sounds amazing.
So, have you guys decided?
Are we gonna take a vote here or anybody else have any ideas?
Oh, hold on. New man.
Yes, sir.
Yeah.
I don't mean to step on anybody's toes in here or nothing
or disrespect the group,
but do all the plays have to be so serious?
Yo, what do you mean by serious though?
I mean, like, every day, we dealing with trauma, drama.
Every day, we got tragedy.
I mean, I think population just might appreciate a comedy.
BRENT: How do you guys feel about that?
MAN: Makes sense.
You got a comedy?
I ain't got a comedy. I don't write comedies.
I got satires.
We never did it before.
What kind of comedy would you propose?
I mean, would it be a broad comedy or something more low-key or...
I don't know. I'm just talking about making people laugh.
Yeah, I understand, but I'm just trying to be more specific
in terms of, like, what kind of comedy you want.
I mean, that's just my opinion.
- DAP: How about a cowboy comedy? - There we go.
I always wanted to do a western,
- like Blazing Saddles or something. - DIVINE EYE: Egyptians!
DAP: Egyptian comedies?
We could sneak some Shakespeare in there.
Hamlet.
Hamlet in the comedy?
Hamlet in the comedy. All right.
We could do something in the forest,
Robin Hood or something like that?
- Peter Pan. Yeah. - Yeah.
GROUP MEMBER: How about Jason?
BIG E: Nightmare on Elm Street.
Could I ask a question?
Can someone name a comedy
that contains all that bullshit that you just named?
We could do time travel.
Well, now, that is true.
I mean, with time travel,
we could put all the things in there that you guys are mentioning
and have a ton of roles.
Get more people up on stage
and maybe even have a message in there or not, I don't know.
What do you think about that, G?
If you're not into it, I could take a stab at writing it.
I think that's cool.
You take a-- You do it. You got it.
It's what everybody else wants, right?
That's not really in my wheelhouse, so you got it.
BRENT: I'll tell you what,
I'll run it by Katherine and if the script sucks,
we can always pivot to something else, right?
All right.
BRENT: Mike Mike, go ahead.
So, Maestro, we take it to a vote?
- GROUP MEMBER 1: Yep. - GROUP MEMBER 2: Let's do it.
GROUP MEMBER 3: Let's go for it.
- Everybody? - Raise your hand, Mike Mike. Let's go.
GROUP MEMBER: Hey, man.
BRENT: All right, done.
(INSECTS CHIRPING)
(TRAIN HORN BLARING)
MIKE MIKE: G, I've read five drafts, at least,
of Fine Print front to back.
It is really solid, man.
And it could be funny.
I mean, you know, if you do the right take on it.
It's a straight drama.
No point in trying to change that. I mean, come on.
All right.
But maybe you got another play that's funnier
and then we could run it up for another vote?
Mike Mike, you know, look, it's really okay.
I'm really good with it, all right?
MIKE MIKE: Okay.
Not gonna be pushy with you, man.
Maybe that knucklehead is right.
(CHUCKLES)
Ah, man.
I mean, it'll take the edge off around here.
It will be a lot easier than all that dying we normally do.
"Dying is easy. Comedy is hard."
(MIKE MIKE LAUGHING)
A character actor said that.
I heard that from-- Brent told me that.
MIKE MIKE: This shit gonna kill me.
(DIVINE G CHUCKLING)
- All right, men. - (SCRIPT THUDDING)
Took everything you wanted,
and put it right in here.
It's got ancient Egypt, pirates, Old West gunfights.
I even sprinkled a little bit of the Black Plague and Roman gladiators in
because at the time, it just seemed like it was a good idea.
- Oh, yeah? - Uh-huh.
- All right. - (SCRIPT THUDDING)
Whoa.
147 pages?
In one weekend?
Well, I had a lot to fit in there,
but it's got a couple of dance numbers,
a couple of songs,
a Hamlet soliloquy.
But at the heart of the story,
it's all about an Egyptian prince
who follows clues through time to find his mummy.
MAN: Is Freddy in this?
BRENT: Oh, Freddy is definitely in this.
It'll make sense when you guys start to read it, okay?
But while you're reading it,
I want you to pick out a role that you identify with.
Now, the cast list is on the board.
Pick a time slot.
There's enough in here for everybody to have at least one role.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
Good afternoon.
My name is Dario Pena,
and I will be auditioning for the role of Whiskerandos.
My name is Carmine.
I'm auditioning for the part of Coal.
My name is Patrick Griffin. They call me Preme.
I'm gonna read the role of the ring announcer.
I'm D-Dan, reading for the part... (STUMBLES)
Alotincommon.
"Now indeed, I am a prisoner.
Yes.
Now I feel the galling weight of these disgraceful chains,
which, cruel Tilburina,
thy doting captive gloried in before."
"I'm tired of bashing guys' brains out with mallets
and ripping their hearts out with my bare hands.
I gotta get outta here."
My name is David James Giraudy, also known as Dap.
And I'll be reading for Leslie.
"Mummy, mummy, is that you?"
D-DAN: "Yes, son, that is your mummy."
"Oh, mummy, mummy, I miss you so."
"Draw your gun, Marshall.
Point it at me and pull the trigger.
In the time it takes for your little bullet
to travel from there to here,
I'll have ducked, rolled, and filled you with so many holes
that you'll whistle like a steam kettle when the wind blows."
JJ: "Coal, prepare to meet your maker."
There's no other lines.
You pull a carrot and I pull a broccoli.
D-DAN: No, that's fine. That's pretty good there.
- There's no lines. - D-DAN: No, no, no.
You're absolutely right. Everything's good.
"We like maiming, flagellation,
skewering and flailing.
Nothing pleases us more than to see an exposed liver
or a popped eyeball."
"I'll duck, roll and fill you so full of holes
that you'll whistle like a steam kettle when the wind blows."
Hello, my name is James Williams,
also known as Big E,
and I'm reading for the part of the ring announcer.
And I'm six foot five.
JJ: I want you to imagine yourself in a coliseum,
and I want you to be a gladiator fighting to the death,
not only for survival, but for performance.
Survival?
JJ: And the performance, as gladiators do.
(HAND SMACKING)
(MOUTH WHOOSHING)
- (ACTOR GRUNTING) - (SNEAKERS SQUEAKING)
(MOUTH WHOOSHING)
I got this signature move. You gotta wait for it.
JJ: What other roles have you played in other productions?
To be honest with y'all, I lost count.
I could sit here and tell you Chief Bromden, Stratford.
I was in Macbeth as King Duncan.
I was in The Silence of the Heart. I was a police officer.
And I was the boss in Of Mice and Men.
Once I played an angel.
Except that wasn't here in RTA.
That was when I was three years old.
I've been playing a role my whole life, bro.
"To be or not to be.
That is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind
to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
or to take arms against the sea of troubles
and by opposing,
end them.
To die,
to sleep,
no more.
And by asleep to say we end the heartache
and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to,
'tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.
To die.
To sleep.
Perchance to dream.
Ay...
there's the rub."
- Thank you. - D-DAN: Divine, can you step out please?
- Sure. - D-DAN: Divine G.
Thank you.
D-DAN: We got someone else reading for Hamlet.
I'm sorry, somebody else is going out for Hamlet?
JJ: Divine Eye.
Okay. All right, thanks.
(PAPER SMACKING)
You're up.
- You sounded great in there. Intense. - Thank you, I appreciate it.
Hey, yo. Can I ask you something?
- DIVINE EYE: Anything. - You wanted to do a comedy, right?
- DIVINE EYE: Sure did. - Now we're doing a comedy.
DIVINE EYE: And I'm excited.
And yet you're auditioning for the only dramatic role in the whole play.
Comedy's very difficult, man.
I don't wanna get up on that stage and get ya'd off the stage, bro.
Hey, there my boys right here.
(DOOR SLAMMING)
(MUFFLED TALKING)
DIVINE EYE: How about some Hamlet?
BRENT: Whoa, Laurence Olivier. Here we go.
(DIVINE EYE LAUGHS)
(SHOES SQUEAKING)
I'd also like to note, commissioners,
that I was a candidate to become a New York City police officer.
Yes, yes, we see that in your packet.
We also see some other things.
Was this before you decided to become a rampaging drug dealer?
Well, sir, I only hustled that one year after my accident.
And-- My God...
Mike Mike, can you please stop messing around with that paddle?
- I can't... - I'm listening.
But I can't focus when you're not giving the whole vibe.
You know what, my bad. I got you.
I'll do the commissioner voice this time, everything.
- Man. - All right?
All right. Come on, come on.
Listen up, Whitfield.
The commission is not here to talk about what you could have been.
We're here to talk about who you really are.
It says here that you were in some sort of enterprise
called Mix Machine, some sort of criminal organization?
No, sir, it is not a criminal organization.
I was a DJ.
- A DJ? - Yeah, yeah.
Well, I bet you was funky as hell!
Weren't you? Admit it.
Admit it! You was funky.
You was funky.
Did you-- Did you pop lock?
- Did you pop lock? - Ga ga!
- Zz-zz-zz. - Kah, kah.
BRENT: All right, gentlemen.
I need your attention and your bodies.
- Form a circle. - RTA!
Let's go.
Thank you, men. Thank you.
- MAN 1: C'mon D-Dan. - MAN 2: D-Dan!
MAN 3: This one's asleep. MAN 1: What's up?
Let's get to work, let's get busy.
We're gonna do a character exercise.
I'm gonna pick somebody out.
They're gonna come to the center of the circle,
introduce yourself as your character,
in that character's voice, and then hand it off to the next actor.
You, sir, are number one, first.
Alotincommon, the Egyptian high priest.
MIKE MIKE: Get it. Get it.
I guess I'm fucking Gravedigger.
(ALL LAUGHING)
What's the matter, Gravedigger?
Freddy's claws got you tongue-tied?
Freddy! Oh, I am... No.
I am Leslie, the Egyptian prince.
Okay, can I start a cuss? Because I am Startacuss!
No, I am Start... Man.
I'm the gunslinger Coal.
The rootin' tootin', carrot totin', shootin', you know.
I am Gladiator Goliathan. Wow.
And I'm Zakariedies.
If you want to play in the coliseum, you gotta see me.
And I am Captain Hook.
Arr, arr.
MIKE MIKE: Get it.
I'm Prince Hamlet of Denmark.
GROUP: Oh!
Hold on, back off now, come on now. We just saw Divine Eye.
We wanna see Prince Hamlet.
Bring it, come on.
I am Prince Hamlet of Denmark.
- D-DAN: There we go. - BRENT: All right.
(GROUP CLAPPING)
BRENT: It's gonna get better, it's gonna get better.
(GROUP CHATTERING)
BRENT: Yes, sir.
I got a question about my character.
I mean, wouldn't he be freaked out
by some dude from ancient Egypt
time-traveling all the way into, like, the middle of the ocean?
And do we even have a common language?
- Language? - Well, good questions.
Remember, it's a comedy.
So we can take some liberties and have some fun with it.
DIVINE G: You can make it up.
Yeah, we're gonna have some fun with it.
I'll tell you what, we can workshop it
- when we get to it... - I have a question.
- BRENT: Yes, sir. - Can't let this go. I'm sorry.
We gotta talk about this time travel.
Is it gonna be a wormhole?
I mean, we're gonna breach the fabric of time?
Like, what kind of effect is it gonna have on a human body?
- Gentlemen, again... - Brent, hold up.
All good questions, but, you know...
Go ahead.
Hey, all right, you guys. All right, just listen.
Okay, listen, you guys... (CHUCKLES)
...you wanna do a cowboy play, all right.
Somebody right here wanna do ancient Egypt
and somebody, for God knows reason,
threw in Freddy Krueger, all right? He did.
- So how-- - JJ: I just got the role,
- I didn't ask for it. - Anyway, it doesn't matter.
But how was Brent supposed to get all of that in here?
He did it, right? He delivered.
I think we should just focus on the scenes.
Look at the emotion of it, the arcs,
and the work will take care of itself.
- Fair. - Well said.
GROUP MEMBER: Trust the process.
You are correct, sir.
- Thank you, G. - Sure.
Okay, that's just great.
So, why don't we start with your scene.
- Gotcha. - MIKE MIKE Ooh.
I'm really tired of this miserable profession.
I don't want to be all mean and tough no more.
I'd like to be gentle and kind.
Really?
Me too.
Look, I'm trying to escape,
but my boss has threatened to kill me, my wife, and kids.
My boss too.
Why, I've been trying to organize the guys for, like, forever!
Let's break out.
Let's.
- Amazing. - (ALL CLAPPING)
- Amazing! - (ALL CLAPPING)
You see that shit? You see that shit?
DIVINE G: I made some choices, I made some choices.
- (CLAPPING) - Come on.
There you go.
- DIVINE G: I made some choices. - MIKE MIKE: Ooh!
BRENT: All right. So, who's next?
- Yeah, I got that. - BRENT: You got it. Come on.
GROUP MEMBER: We're doing Shakespeare.
MIKE MIKE: Get it.
Fuck this shit, man.
(SCRIPT SLAMMING)
- Did I miss something? What? - That's it?
BRENT: That's all right, men.
We're just gonna trust the process here.
That's all right. We're here to support each other. Who's next?
Who's next? Come on.
Come on, Dap. Let's go.
DAP: It's hard to follow them, but all right.
BRENT: That's all right.
(MEN CHATTERING)
What's up, what's up? Peace.
Son, get that money, son, you heard?
(MEN CHATTERING)
All right, men. Let's take five!
Yo, yo, yo, Eye.
Let me holler at you for a minute.
- All right. - Yo, want you to check some shit out.
BRENT: Five means five.
It does not mean 15, like Mike Mike.
Man, this is my spot. (CHUCKLES)
Look at that, you can see everything out there.
Yo, Eye, I just wanted to say
I recognize that you're a little frustrated
with the way things are going...
I'm not frustrated with shit.
Them exercises is goofy as fuck.
(CHUCKLES) Yeah, they are goofy as fuck.
But there's an intention to them, you know what I mean?
I feel like it helps you get some depth. Helps you find a...
Is this the speech you give all the new guys?
DIVINE G: I'm not trying to give you a speech.
Listen, I already know what you're doing, know who you are, what you about, bro.
- What? - You wanna run around here
herding everybody up with the little lessons,
and you call all the shots and all that.
That's all good and all that, but I'm not here for that.
- I ain't come here for that. - I know you got a knife in your waistband.
Of course.
Brother.
This fucking program is all these motherfuckers got.
Makes them feel like they can get the fuck up outta here.
If not literally out there, out there in here.
Don't take that away from them, all right?
A knife in your waistband will be the first thing
to make sure this shit fucking crumbles.
You don't get to fucking tell me what I need in prison.
You don't get to do that, nobody do.
Nobody take care of me.
Nobody do nothing for me or mines.
So don't tell me what to do
and don't bring me in no fucking dark corners no more.
This shit make a nigga nervous, you heard?
We don't use nigga in here.
We use beloved.
You feel me on that?
(WIND WHOOSHING)
(DIVINE G SIGHS)
BRENT: Where's Blaze? Anybody seen Blaze?
MOSI: Blaze? Blaze in five building.
They been keeplocked all day.
BRENT: What about Divine Eye, is he in five building?
MOSI: Nah, Divine Eye is in A block but I don't know where he's at.
You could send Dap to get him though.
(FOOTSTEPS THUMPING)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
Only place to catch a breeze, man.
How's your girl doing? The little one?
Growing up, I guess.
Yeah.
When's the last time you talked to her?
Oh...
I don't count those days, G.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(METAL CLANKING)
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(PAPERS RUSTLING)
(DIVINE G EXHALES)
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
Gentlemen,
I'd like you to go to your most perfect spot.
Perfect moment.
Do you hear anything? Are there any sounds?
Are you with somebody?
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
What is the temperature?
Are you inside?
Are you outside?
Now, just hold that feeling tone.
Hold it.
Remember it.
Savor it.
All right, men, you can open your eyes.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
Does anyone wanna describe where they just were?
Blaze?
So, I'm sitting in seven building yard on a bench
that overlooks the Hudson River.
And on the other side of that yard,
or the other side of that water, actually, is my mother.
And I know that sometimes she goes down that mountain
and looks over the water to where I am at Sing Sing.
And for me, just looking out at the water,
I gain my peace
because I see the waves and they're peaceful
and it gives me something to focus on.
June of 1972,
my wife and I had a picnic by the lake in Prospect Park.
That's the first time I ever told my wife I love her.
If anybody here knows, we bought Manhattan Specials.
You know what a Manhattan Special is?
It's coffee soda, comes in glass bottles about this big.
We bought four of them. I love that stuff.
And we went to Prospect Park.
And, uh, we went by the lake.
And six months ago, I lost that.
She passed away from pancreatic cancer.
Boy, am I gonna miss her.
Summer, 1977.
It's hot.
Water ice truck coming down the street.
Mom gives me 25 cents
and I go running down the street to get it.
It taste all cool in your mouth.
(LAUGHS)
MIKE MIKE: What flavor?
Cherry, I love cherry. Mouth all red.
(LAUGHS)
Spending time with my son and my daughter.
Just watching 'em grow, living their life, you know?
Ninety degree weather,
cutting grass in the backyard
to a point where I'm just so exhausted
and I just lay back and I smell the fresh grass
I just cut and I'm dozing off
and my dog come licking sweat off my face.
(GROUP MEMBER LAUGHING)
Every summer, my mother sent me to Baltimore
with my uncles and they only a few years older than me.
And it was a sense of freedom
'cause my mother wasn't looking over my shoulder.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
I tried to do one about the islands, you know?
My grandma would always tell us about the islands.
The islands, that's where our people are from.
Couldn't do it, Maestro.
I ain't never been there.
Ain't never been there, and I'm not gonna get there.
This is real. I'm stuck in this space.
But if I'm gonna be stuck in a space,
I guess I'll do it with you suckers.
Payasos.
In here, it's all right, get a little release.
So I guess this is my space.
I think you guys are becoming actors.
Just being real with each other and vulnerable.
It's something men don't really get to do too often.
(GROUP CLAPPING)
(CHAIRS DRAGGING)
To be or not to be,
that is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
or to take arms...
- Bro, what's up? - JJ: What's up?
- Why you walking behind me, bro? - I'm supposed to be walking behind you.
- All this room here... - Why don't you just do what
the hell you're supposed to?
- ...and you gotta-- - That's his blocking.
Bro, I'm saying this the shit niggas wanna do in the yard.
Focus on what you're supposed to.
That's what I'm supposed to do, man.
- Bro, listen, don't be doing shit... - Or what?
- you wouldn't do in the yard. - Put your hands down.
The fuck you talking about, "put my hands down"?
- You heard what the fuck I said, man. - Enough!
(SIGHS) Yo, Eye.
I used to be a keeplock monster, man,
consumed in my own anger.
'Til one morning in breakfast,
the guy sitting across from me,
someone stepped behind him and he cut him ear to ear.
And we all sat there
as the blood flew across our clothes and our faces,
and we pretended that was normal.
Brother, we're here to become human again.
To put on nice clothes and dance around.
And enjoy the things that is not in our reality.
BRENT: All right, you remember your mark?
Yeah, I'm supposed to be standing next to the Gravedigger,
then Marion and Leslie come outta nowhere.
Materialize from nowhere.
All right, somebody's gonna walk behind you eventually.
Act like it don't bother you, that's all.
Now let's go, you know your first line, let's go.
Let's run it again.
Come on, man.
- (FOOTSTEPS THUDDING) - (FINGERS SCRATCHING)
DIVINE EYE: Fuck it.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
(SEAGULLS CAWING)
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(FOOTSTEPS THUDDING)
BRENT: Use the whole thing. There you go.
- Sweep through. - (DIVINE G CHUCKLES)
(CHAIR SQUEAKING)
BRENT: Yeah, same thing.
MAN: I'm focused.
(BRENT LAUGHING)
(FOOTSTEPS THUDDING)
(CHAIR DRAGGING)
(DIVINE EYE EXHALES)
BRENT: You were doing great...
Why aren't you up there?
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
They're not rehearsing any scenes I'm in today.
So you just drifted on in, yeah?
Yeah, I sure did.
Okay.
What's those notes?
What notes?
Those notes.
These... just some things I'm working on to help some brothers out.
Get healthier food around here.
And then some litigation business.
DIVINE EYE: Hmm.
That's dope.
You got any kids?
Wait, so you just gonna be all in my business today?
Is that what today is? All right.
Yeah, I got kids. Two girls and a boy.
What's their names?
Divequa, Dinasia and Karron.
Karron is the boy, he was born right when I got in here.
So, uh, you know.
He actually wants to be an actor, like this bunch of nuts.
He's doing YouTube videos and stuff.
What about your girls?
They, uh, they have their own lives.
Yeah?
(HAND TAPPING)
When I started this bid,
my son was real young, man.
You know, the homies in the hood, they took care of him,
'cause that's my son.
Rolled out the red carpet for him.
Anything he wanted, treated him well.
Then it wasn't long
before he started doing the same things I was doing.
Putting in the same kind of pain I was putting in.
And now he's in prison, just like me.
Wearing greens, just like me.
- MOSI: Line? - BRENT: You're looking through
- the wrong end of the eyeglass. - (DIVINE G CHUCKLES)
DIVINE EYE: Seems like I'm not the only one, huh?
(DIVINE G LAUGHS)
Nah.
He doesn't know that there's tricks to learning lines.
DIVINE EYE: Tricks?
Yeah.
What?
Yeah.
What's the tricks?
Everybody has a different process.
Some people like me, I write out every single one of my lines.
You know what I mean? That's the way I know how to digest it.
Some people, and it might be helpful for you
to just underline every action,
every active word, right?
Take it little by little and break it down.
Eventually, you know, you start paraphrasing a little bit,
but then it'll all start to make some sense. Y'know what I'm saying?
And then you sort of like break it down, you know,
like how you would eat an elephant.
You wouldn't swallow that thing whole, right?
- (DIVINE EYE LAUGHS) - You would just take
every little bite, bite, bite, bite, and then it all makes more sense.
I think I learned some of that in the law library. You know what I mean?
Some of these cases are so in depth,
you know, especially like preparing for my clemency hearing.
I mean, I gotta like break it all down.
Yeah, I heard you found a tape or something
that proves your innocence?
Yeah, man. It took me ten years but...
- Mm-hmm. - ...I got it.
So you don't need no good luck or nothing, man.
You already got the golden goose.
I hope so, I think I do.
- I hope so, man. I hope so. - Yeah.
Um, what about you?
I don't mean to be in your business,
but I did look at the docket
and I saw that you have a parole hearing coming up.
Yeah.
Hey, listen, I gotta hit the yard.
Take care of a little bit of business, all right?
- (HANDS SLAPPING) - Peace.
Yeah, if I can be of any, um, help...
DIVINE EYE: Yep.
All right.
(PAPERS RUSTLING)
To die,
to sleep...
perchance to dream.
Ay, there's the rub.
Okay, you wanna take that again?
- Why, did I do something wrong? - No, no, no, we're just working at it.
But, I'll tell you what, let's try something here.
As long as we're not eating no fucking elephants or nothing.
Okay, I don't know what that means, but I won't.
Let's start from the very beginning, okay?
- To be... - I don't mean
the beginning here on your mark,
I mean in the wings. That's where it begins.
So I want you to go back there.
I want to see you come on the stage with Hamlet's--
You're in Hamlet's world and you're bringing that all the way to your mark.
And then you say your line.
Let's try it.
It's the moment before, guys.
- To be... - Hold up, did you do it?
Because we all fell asleep.
Ooh!
You ain't see me just walk from over there?
I saw you walk out here like a man who's asking this audience
for permission to be here.
I wanna see Hamlet come out here,
take the stage and say,
"Hey! It's time to start paying attention to me."
- You have to show... - Ah, Brent, Brent.
- BRENT: Yes, G? - Do you mind if I...
BRENT: Please.
Cool. Watch. All right.
Yo, Eye.
The world expects brothers like you and I,
all these brothers, to walk in with our heads held down,
you know, apologizing for being there.
Now, what you gotta walk in is like a motherfucking king!
- MIKE MIKE: Ooh! - Like you own all this shit.
Everything is yours.
- So you want me to do it right now? - BRENT: Right now.
MIKE MIKE: Yeah.
(WHISPERING) Fucking...
I'm the fucking king, nigga.
(CLEARS THROAT)
DIVINE G: Like the yard, but bigger.
I'm Divine fucking Eye!
- GROUP: Yeah. - DIVINE G: Yeah. Yeah.
I own this fucking theater.
This is my fucking theater.
- DIVINE G: I own this bitch! - I own all this shit.
DIVINE G: That's it, yeah.
Now give him some love, give him some love.
- (CLAPPING) - All right, that's enough.
All right, now, what's your emotional state?
What's underneath that?
Mad as a motherfucker.
DIVINE G: Okay. No, no, no. Okay.
Anger is the easiest thing to play.
Am I right, Brent?
Too easy.
DIVINE G: What's more complicated is to play hurt.
That helps you name the thing, all right?
Now try that. All right.
BRENT: From the top.
There you go, Brent. Ha!
(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Guys, the superintendent's got some big money
sitting out in these seats tonight.
Money that can get us new stage curtains.
ALL: Ooh.
I need you guys to melt their faces off with this.
- Okay? - Yeah, yeah.
MIKE MIKE: We gonna beat 'em down? Oh, no.
I want you to be savage.
(GROUP GROWLING)
So let's go.
Let's go!
(ALL YELLING)
- Sure. All right. Okay. - (MAN COUGHS)
(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Let's go. Come on. Come on, man.
(DIVINE G GROWLING)
(CAST GROWLING)
Take this sacred amulet with you for your protection.
You will need it one day
before the end of your journey, young man.
Scooch to the right a little.
(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
I'm on my mark, bro. Scooch your fucking light.
BRENT: We can move the mark a little, we can move the mark a little bit.
We're gonna move the mark.
Just a skosh.
DIVINE EYE: Dick.
(GROUP YELLING)
(MIMICKING GUNSHOTS)
(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(CONTINUES MIMICKING GUNSHOTS)
This headband is not Egyptian.
It's clearly Phoenician.
- Really? - Yes.
I'll talk to props. Thank you.
BIG E: Cucumbers? Eggplant? Come on, Brent, I need six shooters.
E, that's why it's funny.
They're expecting to see six shooters.
You pull out vegetables, it's a comedy!
(GROUP CHATTERING)
(PLASTIC RUSTLING)
(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
You'll need it before the journey's end.
Let's be gone, young one.
(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Oh, take this amulet, man.
Wear this shit, it's gonna protect you.
You gonna need it before the end of the journey.
Let's get the fuck outta here, let's go.
(ACTORS GROANING)
Ah.
(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
- Oh! - Motherfucker...
(D-DAN GROANING)
(DIVINE G SCREAMING)
Thank you.
(DIVINE G CHUCKLES)
Well, uh,
thanks for coming.
You see the look on the one with the hair like this?
(DIVINE G LAUGHING)
She was not having us.
I think they cursed us.
(DIVINE G CHUCKLES)
We don't really need those curtains anyway.
(GROUP LAUGHING)
We sure worked hard for it though.
(SHUSHING)
(DOOR BANGING)
(FOOTSTEPS THUDDING)
- (GROUP CHATTERING) - DIVINE G: Shut the fuck up.
Can't believe that you picked that scene.
But they loved it.
GROUP: Oh!
Shit.
This is good. This might work.
Yo, how about this for you, man? Here you go.
Bam.
(DIVINE G CHUCKLES)
What's up? You all right?
Yeah.
It's just...
my slings and arrows on the inside
and all this make-believe acting and college degrees...
It don't really change the fact I'm a gangster
and that's my destiny.
That's what's waiting for me on the outside, bro.
It's like Hamlet.
All he wants is Maid Marion,
and he'll go against the whole Greek army.
But to what end?
What?
Oh, shit. I'm sorry.
I keep forgetting how different
this version of Hamlet is from the original.
(DIVINE G LAUGHS)
Yo. What I...
what I do know, if I don't know anything,
is you're an artist.
This is just bringing out parts of yourself
that has been hidden, you know, remained dormant.
Just go for it, trust it.
All right? Leave all the other shit behind.
Go full out.
(HANGERS CLANKING)
Try something new, get into some shit like this.
No, I'm not gonna never get into no shit like this.
Why the fuck you ain't gonna get in this? This is fucking regal, it's a prince.
How about this? Look. How about that with the towel?
- Nah, it's not my thing. - All right, well, that's all right.
DIVINE EYE: A towel? Come on, bro.
- All right, well, how about... I don't know. - Find something for me, man.
Something I could rock, man.
Yo. How about this? How about this? Look.
That's kind of funky.
I might could do something with that.
DIVINE G: All right.
- I might could rock that. - There you go. All right.
Either this or the towel, I think. I think this towel might--
Come on, bro, why you keep trying to put me in the towel?
- I told you this right here, man. - (DIVINE G LAUGHING)
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
(GROUP CHEERING)
Who next? Who next?
DIVINE G: Wait, I thought you were gonna do some shit next.
You gotta do that.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
- Whoa. - Oh!
That one, that one!
- ♪ Ba da cha da da ♪ - (RHYTHMIC HAND CLAPS)
- ♪ Cha ♪ - Hey, lock it up, lock it up. Lock it up.
ALL: Lock it! Lock it! Lock it! Lock it! Lock it! Ah!
- Yeah! - (ALL LAUGH)
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
(HANDS DRUMMING)
(HANDS CLAPPING)
(ALL LAUGHING)
DIVINE G: Go, go, go, go.
(ALL LAUGHING)
MAN: Blaze, what about you?
(HAND DRUMMING)
There you go.
ALL: Whoa!
- Uh-oh! - Uh-oh!
(ALL LAUGHING)
DIVINE G: Go Brent. Go Brent.
No, man, I'm too white!
GROUP: Go Brent, go Brent!
DIVINE EYE: To be or not to be.
That is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
or to take arms against the sea of troubles
and by opposing, end them.
To die.
To sleep.
And by asleep to say we end the thousand natural heartaches
that flesh is heir to.
'Tis a consummation devoutly wished.
To die.
To sleep.
To sleep,
perchance...
Line?
GROUP MEMBER: Yo!
(CAST CHEERING)
- The champ is here! The champ is here! - Yeah!
Where Brent at?
Hey Brent, how'd I do, Brent?
- DIVINE G: You did it! - MIKE MIKE: Ooh, wee!
- (BIRDS CHIRPING) - (GOOSE HONKING)
Listen, I don't mean to step on your toes or nothing,
but I know you haven't had time to prepare for your parole board hearing.
- DIVINE EYE: Mmm-hmm. - So I took the liberty to, uh...
- DIVINE EYE: Liberty? - ...do some prep work.
Man, what I told you the last time we talked about this shit?
Oh, come on, man.
All you gotta do is, like, fill out the essay,
and I just need some addresses that I don't have.
Listen, man, how you sitting up here with all this faith in the system?
The system don't give a fuck about us.
The system that's trying to keep you in here.
Even with all the evidence that you got to prove your innocence.
What do I got bro? I got nothing. They gonna slam me.
DIVINE G: What you trying to tell me? They got you?
- Who got me? - Letting you think you belong in here.
- No, man. - They got you.
Well, what I got out there?
All my people in here.
My son is in here, shit.
Sometimes I think this might be the best place for me right now.
No, no. Don't say that shit. Don't say that.
That's what they want you to think.
They want you to think you some motherfucking lapdog or some shit,
when you're not that and you know you're not that.
You know who you are? You know who you are?
Let me remind you, you're a motherfucking wolf.
All right?
A wolf.
Yo, listen man, I heard sometimes you might not even get a decision.
You sitting on your bunk waiting and waiting and shit.
Not the truth, not the truth. What they give you is a letter.
Thick as a brick,
you keeping your ass here.
Light as a feather, you're free.
- Yeah? - DIVINE G: Yeah.
I do all that shit right there, man, and it don't work?
You try again.
And again.
And again. And again.
- Yeah? - DIVINE G: Yeah.
Well, how long this essay gotta be?
That's my boy. That's my boy.
Come on.
They better let me out off this bullshit too.
DIVINE G: Come on. Come on.
I can't sleep.
It's too hot.
MIKE MIKE: You're too hyped.
It's the play, man.
Shit is wild, right?
Yeah.
Space and time and histories.
I still haven't cracked that whole time portal thing, but...
you know what's really fun though?
DIVINE G: What?
Playing all those characters and names in one piece, 'cause that's me, man.
That's my whole life.
It's like the name game thing.
You remember Role Call?
My name is... (MAKES BEAT)
DIVINE G: Yeah, but that's what all the girls did.
No, man, everybody did that. Except for me.
- I couldn't do it. - (DIVINE G CHUCKLES) Why?
MIKE MIKE: Name was too damn long.
Wait, wait, wait.
What's your whole name, man?
MIKE MIKE: Come on, man, my government name?
- Do I know your-- Wait. - MIKE MIKE: Yeah.
How many... What?
My Christian name, Miguel Francisco Benjamin Garcon.
DIVINE G: Benjamin? Is that like Arabic or something?
Benjamin.
Come on, man, you don't know Spanish for shit.
I mean, we're islanders.
So I guess it could be anything.
But, you know, the only thing I answered to growing up, though,
Miguelito.
That's what my grandmother called me.
"Miguelito."
She was my word and my God, man.
Miguelito. Mm-hmm.
You remember the clique I came with, right?
There was two Mikes.
So they thought it was, like, Mike and then I was Mike Mike.
But nah.
You know, G, that came from outside, from before.
When I used to be high, high.
They say, "Mike do his dope for Mike."
And then he always come right back again
and do more dope for Mike, so Mike Mike.
(MIKE MIKE CHUCKLING)
Yeah, man. That shit was so nice, I had to do it twice.
Yeah.
And more.
Hoo.
I was fucked up.
I really did fuck up, man.
That was the one thing that broke my grandma.
Drugs and me.
But that's me, man.
That's what I work on in here.
That's why I'm good in here.
I mean, I'm here...
and I'm good.
DIVINE G: You know they called me...
a couple names in the neighborhood.
They called me Mix Machine.
- Yeah. - DIVINE G: My DJ name.
Yep.
DIVINE G: And then they called me, uh...
you know, they call me Divine G in here,
but they called me Davey at home.
Davey.
DIVINE G: Yeah, Davey, when I was at the Fame school.
The High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan.
- Ooh. - DIVINE G: For dancing.
You mean the Irene Cara thing?
So you was Leroy?
No, I wasn't Leroy,
but there were a whole lot of Leroys there.
But let me tell you, those Leroys could dance and fight.
- Okay? - MIKE MIKE: You danced?
Me and my boys. What?
- MIKE MIKE: You danced too? - Yeah, I danced.
- I danced modern and ballet. - MIKE MIKE: Hmm, tutus...
Ballet wasn't what you think it is, right?
- Ballet is like disciplined. - The tutus and everything, right?
It is, um... It's physical.
It's strong. It's like football, to be honest.
It takes a lot of focus and dedication.
Man, I used to love to do that.
But I couldn't because I had to fight every day.
Once the fellas found out in the neighborhood,
I'd be fighting every time I went home, man.
"Yo,
you wear them tights. Yo, faggot, whatever."
Like, everybody thinks something about you
just because you dance.
So I gave it up, man.
Man, the things you give up.
Yeah, I miss it.
Man... if I only stayed with it, man.
I ain't thinking about that, you know, you can't look back.
What if I kept, what if I did?
Mike Mike?
Oh, man.
All right, I listen to your bullshit stories
about being called Benjamin and whatnot.
(DIVINE G CHUCKLING)
Good night.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
(CRICKETS CHIRPING)
(TRAIN ENGINE REVVING)
GUARD: Yeah, I'm still here.
MAN: (ON RADIO) Where's the body?
GUARD: I don't know, they bagged it before my shift.
Didn't have much property so...
MAN: (ON RADIO) Well, don't be late for lunch.
I ain't gonna wait on you all day.
GUARD: Yeah, I know.
- (RADIO BEEPING) - (METAL CLANKING)
(CLATTERING)
I could understand a person hanging up.
I could even understand a person getting stabbed.
But a brain aneurysm?
I don't get it.
You know, when they called me down to the chapel
and let me know my mom had passed,
I sat in the audience
while RTA was putting on a show.
Mike Mike was on stage, you know,
every performance after that, I came down and watched him.
Mike Mike brought me in.
I guess Mike Mike's gonna finally visit the Island.
DIVINE EYE: Is there anything you need to talk about, bro?
Everything that needed to be said got said, right?
(CHAIR CLANKING)
DIVINE EYE: I'm only asking, bro, because you ain't having much to say
- when we was in the circle. - What's that supposed to mean?
(CHAIR CLANKING)
G, I don't mean no disrespect or nothing.
I'm always here for you, if you ever need me.
I got a dozen letters to write to his family tonight.
What I need to do right now is finish with these chairs.
All right, man, listen, my bad. Peace.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(CHAIR CLANKING)
- (TV CHATTER) - (MEN LAUGHING)
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(MEN LAUGHING)
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
GROUP MEMBER: Ahoy, mateys!
I think I spy a ship on the horizon.
Nah, that's not a ship.
It's a sailboat.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
DIVINE G: No, no, no, Mom. That's not what I'm saying.
But you just have to tell them they can't talk to you like that.
That's all I'm trying to say.
Well, if you're not gonna do anything about it then I don't even know why we're...
I don't know why we're talking about it then, all right?
Just let them run over you then.
Oh, man. Ma, I'm sorry.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
No, no, I'm not nervous.
I'm just ready for it to be done.
I'm just, you know, just waiting.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
I'm just ready to see you, Mom.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(DIVINE G SIGHS)
I'm afraid to see you.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
LEAD COMMISSIONER: Mr. Whitfield. This is a clemency hearing
for your conviction of murder in the second
as well as weapons possession.
Two counts on each, 25 to life.
Two to seven, and five to 15 respectively.
That is correct.
LEAD COMMISSIONER: Okay.
(PAPERS RUSTLING)
I will note at the outset
that we were able to acquire the sentencing minutes
and they will be considered as well as your parole packet.
Yes.
LEAD COMMISSIONER: But we're talking about
the March 25th, 1988 homicide of Randall Birch.
He had been shot many times in the head and body, correct?
DIVINE G: As far as I understand.
And in terms of this offense,
- you have exhausted your appeals. - Yes.
LEAD COMMISSIONER: You had the Innocence Project look at it.
Legal Aid. You hired an investigator.
Apparently you've raised other issues of, um,
prosecutorial and police department misconduct.
And there were some other exculpatory statements
made by another person
that were never given to you for your trial.
Another man confessed to the crime on that tape,
but it was buried along with other key evidence.
Yes, and that's part of the issue.
It's been next to impossible for us to authenticate the validity.
The person who made it is deceased,
and we can't get the DA's office to return our calls.
I don't know how-- What I can...
LEAD COMMISSIONER: You understand that this creates
a complicated legal issue, don't you?
- Yes. But I... - Since you've been in custody,
you've been involved in numerous programs.
It's too long a list for me to go through.
But I do have a question about the theater program.
You've been involved in that many years, have you not?
Yes. Uh, yes, ma'am.
I am a founding member of this program.
It's something I'm very proud of.
LEAD COMMISSIONER: And what part do you play in this program?
Actor? Director?
Well, we all do a few things.
I'm on what is called the Steering Committee.
We make a lot of decisions for how it operates, and...
from time to time, I do act, like we all do,
and um... it's been a program that was established
to help the population with management skills.
And it's turned into something a bit more, I don't know,
wonderful, because it helps people get more in touch with their feelings
and able to process and actually move through
and truly get some rehabilitation.
So are you acting at all during this interview?
Absolutely not. Uh...
I truly hope that you can understand
that I've been very sincere.
I know how meaningful this is.
I would never...
Actually, that's not the intention of acting.
Acting is just to, you know, process.
I read about the program.
It's a good program.
Okay.
Any other questions from the board?
Well, thank you, Mr. Whitfield.
We'll take all of this into account
and deliver our decision in two weeks.
(FOOTSTEPS THUDDING)
(ENVELOPE THUDDING)
(ENVELOPE CRINKLING)
(CRICKETS CHIRPING)
(FOOTSTEPS THUDDING)
You're going home.
Yeah.
I can hardly believe it.
It don't even seem real.
What about you?
I wouldn't even be here without you, beloved.
Thank you for everything.
C'mon, they're waiting for you.
(CELLO MUSIC PLAYING)
WOMAN: The tree costume is great.
This looks perfect, don't lose any of those.
(CELLO MUSIC CONTINUES)
Reach for the sky, Marshall.
(MIMICKING GUNSHOTS)
You look just like Gary Cooper, you know that?
- My lady! - Hey!
You've arrived!
- So good to have you here. - Oh, it's so good to see you.
- We'll talk later. - Yeah. Yeah.
We got it.
- Ah! - (SQUEALING)
I told you I was no ghoul.
I'm happy as the Gravedigger now.
Thank you.
Fifteen years since I put on a suit.
And you look good champ but can I get this mirror?
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
Take this sacred amulet and wear it.
You will need it before your journey's end.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
BRENT: Well, we made it.
Still a lot more work to do.
Dress rehearsal, this is when you guys get to grow.
It's when the director kind of lets go and lets you guys take over.
So don't be afraid to try things.
No acting allowed.
A lot of listening, let's listen to each other.
Let's support each other.
I want to thank you guys for trusting the process.
I know we're thinking about Mike Mike right now.
And I want you to know,
I got a feeling Mike Mike has not left the building.
So we're gonna do this for Mike Mike.
DIVINE EYE: Let's go, man. Bring it on in here.
- Bring it in. - DIVINE EYE: Everybody.
- DAP: All right. Yep. Yep. - We got it?
One, two, three.
ALL: RTA!
- Yeah. Yeah. - WOMAN: Whoo!
(CAST CLAPPING)
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
I am Alotincommon.
I am the high priest of Egypt from the year...
Hell, it was a long time ago.
Sweet Egyptian Princess Neotali
has been the victim of a murder...
a crime most foul.
She was a good mummy to her little one she named Leslie.
(FOOTSTEPS THUDDING)
Mummy?
Mummy? Is that you?
Oh, Mummy, I miss you so.
Now I am a prisoner.
Yes.
Now I feel the galling weight of these disgraceful chains.
ALOTINCOMMON: And so the young lovers set out
on their journey seeking something black and white,
above water and sky.
(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
- (LESLIE SCREAMING) - (ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Oy!
GRAVEDIGGER: I think I found her here, guv'nor.
What a pretty mess she turned out to be.
Wait.
(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Keep this with you always.
Keep it near to your heart,
so that you'll always remember me.
(ROCK THUDDING)
(RISING MUSIC PLAYING)
Yo, these are mine.
- (FOOTSTEPS THUDDING) - CAST MEMBER: My bad.
(ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Zakariedies's got me locked into a 25 year no-pay contract.
If I don't do what he says and be his number one gladiator,
he's gonna kill my wife and daughters,
and feed me to the lions.
DAP: Line?
BRENT: "We sure could have used you
for some serious backup."
Why, we sure could use you for some serious backup.
Yeah, we sure coulda used you for some serious backup.
And then I say...
Never fear! Gladiator Goliathan is here.
I'll smash 'em and bash 'em, whether short or tall.
Got it?
And then I come out and say the most profound line.
If you help me escape, consider it done.
And remember, everybody, say it like it's really funny,
'cause it's a comedy.
Ha, ha, ha. It's a fucking comedy, yeah.
(CHUCKLES)
BRENT: Uh.
Okay, men.
- Let's take five. - Why?
Why, Brent?
Like it's gonna fucking matter? Like we're gonna get any fucking better?
Like he's gonna remember any fucking line he has?
You tell us to trust the fucking process, right?
Well, the process is fucked!
I think we need more than five, Brent, for him to learn his fucking lines.
- Hey, c'mon, brother. Let's take a walk. - Yo, get the fuck off of me.
The fuck you gonna do? You gonna step? You wanna step?
Yeah?
What the fuck are you wearing, man?
What the fuck are we doing?
This silly bullshit we do every fucking six months,
as if it fucking matters, man. And we're still fucked.
We're still right back where we fucking start.
Are you done?
No.
(DIVINE G LAUGHS)
I'm not done.
Isn't that fucking hilarious?
(FOOTSTEPS RECEDING)
(DOOR SLAMS)
- (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) - (CRICKETS CHIRPING)
Yo, this is gonna set us back for how long now?
He walked away.
He just walked away.
You can't do that.
We're all going through stuff.
This is about acting professionally.
We're in the middle of a production.
We all have breaking points.
Listen, we all understand breaking points.
We've all been through our own breaking points,
yet we show up and we do what we have to do.
You have to.
(GROUP MEMBERS ARGUING)
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(MEN CHATTERING)
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
BRENT: So I want you to picture in your mind's eye
a very dear and old friend
that you haven't seen for a very long time,
but you'd love to see him again.
So what does that look like?
And what does he look like?
Is he taller now or shorter?
Has he still got the same haircut?
Maybe he needs a shave.
Maybe he looks a little bit different, a little bit older.
We're all getting older.
Have that brotherly feeling of love and safeness.
What would that be like?
Should be joyful.
Should be wonderful.
You know?
Just to be with that person one more time.
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)
You can open your eyes now.
Was it me?
(GROUP CHEERS)
CHARLIE: Oh, what's good, boys?
Oh, man, it's good to see y'all.
DAP: Yo, good to see you, man.
Dapper Dapper, you still here, bro?
GROUP MEMBER: Tell us what's going on outside, man.
Oh, man.
The world, man.
I get up, 4:30, I'm in that bakery, man.
Pumping out donuts, cheesecake. Grinding.
But, man, I take so much joy in just being out at night,
you know what I'm saying? Like, it's summertime,
ten o'clock at night, you know what I mean?
You go to the basket and still seeing kids out there.
Remember how we used to play ball at night?
Like, you go to the schoolyard or wherever at night
and play ball and whatnot.
Bam, I just walk past. See the...
Oh, man, you know.
But then my greatest joy, my greatest joy, right?
It's washing my car, going to the car wash,
getting that baby spit fine clean,
finding me a destination.
Go grab my dog, put my road dog on the side,
throw my jazz on, hit the road at 60,
throw that cruise on and let everything else go.
I got up the other day, man,
at two o'clock in the morning and made some pancakes
and grits and shit just because I could.
(CHARLIE LAUGHING)
That feel good as hell.
On another note though, right?
I just had to put my dog down.
Hey.
I had a 85 pound red nose pit bull named Girly.
That bitch, all she wanted to do,
she thought she was a lap dog.
She just wanna lay in your lap and eat Scooby snacks.
You know what I'm saying? She just wanna play.
But, um, she was sick and I didn't know.
And so,
her nose started bleeding.
She was... (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) She was the only one
that was really happy to see me
when I walked through the door.
You know what I mean? She, uh...
She looked-- The day that we had to put her down,
I couldn't really... I couldn't go.
'Cause I'm not gonna watch nobody walk my dog off.
She was suffering, she was suffering.
(CHARLIE CRIES)
This emotional roller coaster, man, is really...
it's really something else. And it don't hit you at first
'cause everything is... Everything is lovely.
You know what I mean? It's cotton candy, baby.
You know, peaches and cream.
First years out, you get...
It's exciting getting to know them.
But then, you know, you settle down.
You find out you got these feelings, man.
And everybody want a piece of your feelings, you know?
And because you care, you open up.
And that's when the hurting come on in, you know.
But, uh, yeah,
Brent asked me to come in
'cause y'all got this production coming up
and here I am with all this heavy shit
sucking the air out of the room, right?
- Oh, man. But listen... - GROUP MEMBER: It's all right.
GROUP MEMBER 2: It's real.
Yeah.
I appreciate that, man.
So on that vein, yo...
But you think maybe like we could do a exercise
or something so I could be reinvigorated, re-energized?
Definitely, man, let's get up on our feet.
This ain't no goddamn sewing circle, come on.
CHARLIE: Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
BRENT: So let's shake up this space for brother Charlie.
Let's walk around, let's walk around here.
GROUP MEMBER: Let's walk it out...
What it's like when the air is really heavy and hot?
(MEN CHATTERING)
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(CLAPS)
You know, I was artistic as a kid, you know.
Used to draw, paint...
like those little geese right there and everything.
Man.
That was dope.
(MEN CHATTERING)
Yeah, man.
Mom used to try to tell me to paint a lot
and I skipped over that.
You know where that landed me, so...
I got a label.
Everybody perceived me to be a thug, a gangster, whatever.
And that kind of like put me in a box.
And you don't have a box.
Everywhere I saw you at in the jail,
you always was Divine G
and you was free to be that
because you didn't have a label.
And I see that you need help, bro.
But you won't ask for it.
You got all of us here, man. We love you, bro.
We gonna do anything we can for you.
But you refuse to extend your hand to ask for help, bro.
As many brothers as you helped in here.
(MAN COUGHS)
(MAN LAUGHS)
I fucked up.
DIVINE EYE: Yeah, you did, you fucked up.
But, you know, we all know you, we all love you and we took a vote.
Yeah, everybody's willing to take you back right now
under one condition.
What is that?
Well...
you gotta-- you gotta admit wholeheartedly,
possibly even in writing,
that I murdered that Hamlet scene, bro.
(LAUGHS)
I mean, listen, man,
the dude Shakespeare is in his grave right now.
He rolled over just to hear that magic I put on that thing, man.
(DIVINE G LAUGHING)
- You did your thing, beloved. - (BOTH LAUGHING)
Yes, I did, beloved.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
BRENT: Everybody, let's just take a cleansing deep breath.
(BRENT INHALES)
(EXHALES) Just let it all go.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
Who would have thunk,
that the beginning of the healing for this planet
would start right here behind the walls of Sing Sing.
Anybody else have anything they want to add right now?
Yes, sir.
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
Sometimes it's just all a little too much on the heart.
But that's no excuse.
And I hope that you could forgive me.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
- DIVINE G: Bring it in, RTA. Yeah. - BRENT: Yeah. Yeah.
DIVINE G: Gimme those hands.
- All right, all right. - All right?
ALL: One, two, three.
RTA!
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
DAP: Yo, B block, they was loving it.
JJ: Yeah, see, the comedy...
Comedies are different, man.
- D-DAN: Yeah. - JJ: That was a little hard
but it was-- it's different. It had a different hit.
D-DAN: And Carmine, yo, he came around
- in that Gravedigger, didn't he? - JJ: Yeah.
- DAP: He definitely did. - D-DAN: Yeah!
JJ: You're right about that.
DAP: Carmine did, Blackseed, Winter, Tye.
All of them did their thing.
The cast stepped up.
Yeah, the cast definitely stepped up.
And I still don't understand time travel.
- We did all that, still don't understand. - JJ: I don't think we'll ever understand.
- D-DAN: From pirates and-- - DAP: I don't know how...
- Yeah. - ...it got from Robin Hood to pirates
and then all over the place.
D-DAN: All over the place. That's the craziest thing.
JJ: We were all over the place
and the population was still able to follow it.
D-DAN: They enjoyed it.
- JJ: They got all that in there. - D-DAN: Right.
JJ: Shakespeare.
D-DAN: But, fellas, what are we gonna do next?
It's too hard to top.
- JJ: What do you think, Dap? - DAP: Yeah, it's hard to top,
I don't know, man.
Divine, what you got for us?
You always keep something in the stash.
JJ: What you got for us, Divine G?
Shit, what I got for you... I don't know, I ain't got nothing.
JJ: I know you keep something in the stash.
D-DAN: You always working on something, man.
How about my play, Fine Print?
Wait, but it's a little lost in the second act.
But maybe I could...
JJ: Come on, you got something else.
Wait, all right, how about...
Man, I've been working on this play for a couple years.
Maybe it might work.
It's called Pro Se.
JJ: Now that's gonna appeal to the population.
DIVINE G: It's a satire, man.
It's about this dude who's been like working out, you know?
Just hitting the gym...
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
(ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYING)
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
(ORCHESTRAL MUSIC CONTINUES)
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
(PAPER RUSTLING)
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)
(DOOR CREAKING)
(DOOR CLOSES)
(RADIO CHATTERING)
(GATE OPENING)
(SIGHS)
(CELLO MUSIC PLAYING)
(CELLO MUSIC CONTINUES)
DIVINE EYE: Come on.
Come on, man.
(DIVINE G SOBBING)
(HAND SLAPPING)
DIVINE EYE: All right, all right, we here, man.
We out here now.
- Yeah. - We out here now.
- Yeah. We out here now. - We out here now.
And we got work to do.
(BOTH LAUGH)
What's up? How you like my joint?
Ah, man.
- Yeah, man, yeah. - Yeah, it's good.
We out here.
Yeah, oh, man.
We're cruising now.
Oh, man, the air feels different out here.
It is different.
We ain't gotta smell no toilets or nothing out here. Man, we good.
What you wearing? Look at those.
Hey, where you gonna get you some?
(BOTH LAUGH)
Man. Man.
Yeah.
("LIKE A BIRD"
BY ABRAHAM ALEXANDER AND ADRIAN QUESADA PLAYING)
I introduce to you
Breakin' the Mummy's Code by Brent Buell.
(AUDIENCE CLAPPING)
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
Mummy. Mummy.
Is that you?
Now indeed I am a prisoner.
Yes.
Now I feel the galling weight of these disgraceful chains!
I don't wanna be all mean and tough no more.
You know, I'm really tired of this
really miserable profession.
I want to be gentle and kind.
Really?
Me too.
Keep this near to your heart so that you will remember me.
Always.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
Let's go, Horatio!
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC CONTINUES)