The documentary Human Again, created by PMA Professor Bruce Levitt, will screen at Cinemapolis on Sunday, April 27 at 2:30 p.m. The film, which earned Best Documentary Feature at the International Independent Film Awards, follows the five original founders of the Phoenix Players Theatre Group (PPTG) as they strive to reconnect with their repressed humanity at a maximum-security prison in Auburn, NY. The screening will feature a post-film discussion with four of the founding members of PPTG: Efrain Diaz, David Bendezu, Kenneth Brown, and Michael Rhynes. The event is free and open to the public.
The screening will be preceded by a presentation by Civic Ensemble artists about the transformative experiences they have had in the ReEntry Theatre Program. Register here.
As lead facilitator of PPTG for fifteen years, Levitt has worked weekly with incarcerated men who use theater as a path to self-discovery. Under Levitt's guidance, the group has created and performed five original pieces for audiences since 2011. Maximum Will, the groups’ second piece was performed in 2012 at Auburn Correctional Facility and its development is the basis for Human Again.
Among the founding members joining the post-film discussion will be PPTG co-creator Michael Rhynes, who returned home on December 19, 2023, after thirty-eight years of wrongful incarceration. The vision he shared with co-founder Clifton Williamson shaped the group's identity from its earliest days. While they initially called themselves the Auburn Phoenix Players, they realized they were "in" Auburn but not "of" Auburn. The Phoenix name, Rhynes explains, represents the difference between rehabilitation and transformation: "Rehabilitation is about other people having control over your life while transformation is about taking your own life in your own hands. We are actors by accident. PPTG was created for the sole purpose of reconnecting us to our humanity through the vehicle of drama,” says Rhynes.
This event is co-sponsored by The Phoenix Players Theatre Group, Civic Ensemble's Re-Entry Theatre Ensemble, and Cornell University’s Student Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Other student groups involved in planning the event include the Cornell Anti Detention Alliance, Cornell University Parole Initiative Club, Planned Parenthood Generation Action at Cornell University, and Cornell Prison Reform and Education Project.
"We hope audiences walk away with a different narrative about incarcerated people and understand that redemption and transformation is possible," says Levitt.
