NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2025 — Broadway, Bars, and Fortune, a compelling 40-minute documentary from director and producer Shuvendu Sen, showcases how theater and the arts can serve as powerful tools for healing and redemption among formerly incarcerated individuals. The film celebrates New York City’s The Fortune Society, one of the country’s leading reentry organizations, and the life-changing impact of theater programs.
“Broadway has become an emotional point of rehabilitation,” Sen said. “This film shows how theater, both inside and outside prison walls, can serve as a powerful healing tool—one that reduces trauma, crime and recidivism.”
The documentary features The Fortune Society founder and Broadway personality David Rothenberg and four inmates-turned-actors—Philip Hall, Casimiro Torres, Ervin Hunt and Vilma Ortiz Donovan—who share their raw and inspiring journeys of trauma, transformation and reintegration into society.
Tony Award-winning actress Christine Ebersole, acclaimed actress and director Marcia Jean Kurtz, and Eric Krebs, founder of multiple theaters in NYC, also appear, providing context and guidance around the transformative power of the arts.
Broadway, Bars, and Fortune has received Official Selections in two mainstream Film Festivals: The New York Lift-Off Film Festival and The Hispanic International Film Festival. It has also been selected to be screened at the iconic Hollywood Theater in Portland, Oregon, on October 11.