How You Stage “On The Waterfront” In Prison

They rehearsed as a group twice a week, and stole a few minutes here and there to run lines wherever they could—in the yard, in the law library, on the cellblock. Lawrence Bartley describes a process that sounds a lot like method acting when he talks about preparing for the role of Charley Malloy, played by Rod Steiger in the original 1954 film. “I try to take on the persona of the character, try to act like he would,” Bartley says. “Unless it would be offensive.” (This is prison, after all.)