On April 9, 2026, Rehabilitation Through the Arts performed Sister Act: The Musical at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. The joy in the room that night was impossible to miss, and impossible to forget.
Sister Act: The Musical follows Deloris Van Cartier, a nightclub singer who hides in a convent after witnessing a crime. She transforms a struggling choir, forms unexpected friendships, and discovers a sense of purpose and belonging she didn’t know she was looking for.
It is a story about finding your voice in an unfamiliar place, about community forming where you least expect it, and about the moment a person realizes they are capable of more than they’d been told. For the cast at Bedford Hills, those themes didn’t need to be explained. They were already lived.
Devonne W., known to her castmates as Phoenix, played Sister Mary Robert, a young novitiate who spends much of the show wondering about the life she might have led, before stepping into her own voice.
Phoenix described her own journey in almost exactly the same terms. “When my character defies Mother Superior and speaks up, she finds her voice and embraces her true self,” she shared.
“Like my character, I have metamorphosed into a stronger, bolder, more confident individual.” – Phoenix who played Sister Mary Robert
That mirroring was most vivid in the song Phoenix performed as Sister Mary Robert, “The Life I Never Led,” in which the character moves through longing and uncertainty toward an unexpected sense of self. Sung by Phoenix, inside Bedford Hills, the song carried a weight the musical’s original writers may never have imagined.
What the Audience Experienced
For some in the audience, it was their first time inside a correctional facility. One guest described feeling a tightness just upon entering the grounds, even as the staff was welcoming and calm. Then the performance started, and something shifted.
The joy and energy on stage opened her eyes in ways she hadn’t anticipated—and she was left struck by a remark from Commissioner Martuscello III : that it is everyone’s job to treat every person inside those walls as a human being.
Allison Chernow, RTA’s Board Chair, put it simply: “The joyousness of the cast and the talent there… it was just incredible to witness.” Another supporter wrote to RTA in the days that followed:
“They did more than just entertain us, they lifted us up and made us smile. Now more than ever, that is a gift.” – RTA Supporter and Sister Act Attendee
For RTA Executive Director Jermaine Archer, the scene where Mother Superior stands up for Deloris was the moment that stayed with him. “It shows we can accept each other for who we are and still be stronger together,” a feeling, he said, that “only reinforced what I already knew: that art changes lives and perspectives.”
The Lasting Impact of Sister Act
Productions like Sister Act are the most visible expression of what RTA does, but they are the result of something much longer and quieter: months of showing up, taking creative risks, and building trust that doesn’t come easily in any environment, let alone a correctional one.
Kim B., who played Mother Superior, described what the rehearsal space makes possible: “Prison is suspended during the time you are in class.” And in that suspension, something real takes hold between the women on stage, and in the work happening all around them.
Teaching Artist and choreographer for the production, Belle Torres, saw it forming over months of rehearsal:
“The sisterhood we celebrate in every class, the relationships we have developed, and the strong bonds that we have grown from classes, rehearsals, and production preparation are truly unmatched.”
Teaching Artist Cheryl Hajjar witnessed the same in her visual arts group, where individual work gradually became something shared; participants checking in on each other, offering support, trusting one another to bring their best. Not everyone was center stage. Some painted, some built, some held things together from behind the scenes. Every role was essential. An art show also accompanied the production, featuring work by RTA participants in the visual arts workshop.
That is what RTA makes possible. Not a performance in spite of circumstances, but a transformation that runs directly through them.
When asked what she hopes audiences take away, Phoenix’s answer was simple: “That people can change.”
On April 9, inside Bedford Hills, that was not a hope. It was a fact on display.
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Rehabilitation Through the Arts thrives on the generosity of supporters who believe in the power of the arts to transform lives. Help us bring more productions like this to people in prison.
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This production is supported by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
RTA is proud to be a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with support of County Executive Kenneth W. Jenkins and the Board of Legislators.
