Randy shows up late the next morning for another day as Lavinia. He swaggers in wearing sandals and socks, a day-glo vest, and sunglasses riding the brim of his weathered cap. Mike Smith, who plays Lavinia's husband, rolls his eyes. "She ain't pretty," he concedes, "but she's all I got."

As they were in Shakespeare's day, all the female roles are played by men. At first, none of the guys would play a woman; finally, Hal Cobb volunteered. Hal – Titus this year – is gay, and some guys taunted him. "They'd say, 'It's easy for you, you're like a woman already.' " Curt got angry. "I told them, 'He's risking as much as any of you to play his part, and he's probably risking even more out on the yard.' " After a successful first year, other men started volunteering.

Leonard, who's serving 50 years for sex crimes, is one of those. This year, he's double-cast with Demond Bush; the two play Tamora and Titus's brother on alternate nights. Leonard says he wants to play Tamora "to confront those fears of mine about playing a woman in a place where you have to try to be as macho as you can. And in a way, to say: 'I'm going to do this because I'm going to learn something about myself by doing so.' "

Today, he sashays on stage, his character intent on a tryst with Aaron. Aaron instead appeases Tamora with his wicked plot: Her sons will capture Bassianus and Lavinia, murder him, and rape her.

Aaron leaves as the young couple appears; Tamora's sons soon arrive. They stab Bassianus, then start to taunt Lavinia, who begs their mother for mercy. Tamora offers none, and her sons drag Lavinia to a hollow, offstage, where they rape her and cut off her hands and tongue.

	Cast & crew To find out about the actors and directors, click on a photo.

Like many abused children, Sammie did not escape the cycle of physical, emotional, and sexual violence in his adult life. He went to prison twice for assault, and twice got out on good behavior. Then he married and helped found a wrestling gym.

"But still," he says, "I had all these problems." He began having affairs with many women – particularly one named Carol, who "was very abusive."

They broke up once, but five years later resumed the affair. Sammie was also sleeping with his supervisor, and Carol threatened to expose him. "And I'm like, 'I'm going to lose everything I got.' So in a fit of rage, I ended up strangling [Carol]."

Onstage, Saturninus finds his brother murdered, and condemns two of Titus's sons to death for the crime. Titus begs for mercy, but receiving none, begins to lose his mind. When Marcus brings the bloody Lavinia to him, Titus stops raving, and weeps.

Aaron, anxious for more mischief, tells Titus a lie: If he will chop off his hand, and entrust it to Aaron to deliver, the emperor will spare his sons. Titus doesn't hesitate, and Aaron cuts off the hand.

Hal curls up at the foot of a drill press, clutching his severed wrist. "Watch your hands and fingers," warns a safety poster taped overhead.

Later, Hal proudly shares a photo that's come in the mail: his daughter's high school graduation picture. He's not allowed to contact her – when she was a toddler he electrocuted her pregnant mother – but his parents send him pictures. In the photo, a young woman in a dress suit sits solemnly, looking twice her age. She has Hal's eyes. "This is my Lavinia," he says.

That afternoon, in his office, Warden Chandler confides that "record-wise, Curt's got a couple of the worst guys. It still amazes me. You would run, if you seen 'em in their day." Of all the inmates involved in Shakespeare when Chandler first arrived, he trusted Sammie least. "He was a scary guy in those days. It's different now. That light bulb went off for him."

Chandler has spent his career at five Kentucky prisons, and has mixed feelings about his plans to leave Luther Luckett next year to start up a sixth. It will be a $77 million facility in the heart of Appalachia. "Appalachia's new industry is prisons, for sure. We build 'em and we never close 'em." He pauses, studying an old-fashioned ball and chain slumped decoratively by his door. "I'll always have a job, I know that," he says.