On the evening of April 27, the DU Department of Theatre put on a one-night-only staged reading of “12 Angry Jurors,” a teleplay originally broadcast in 1954 as “12 Angry Men,” later made into a classic 1957 film by the same name. Directed by senior theatre and business major Meagan Traver, the play featured a cast of 13 students, four men and nine women. In the spirit of a true staged reading, the play had no blocking whatsoever, with the cast arranged in an arc on the stage with scripts before them, and any props, set or movement described by the Narrator (Taryn Allen, also Judge and Guard).
The play began with each juror entering the stage one by one, a telling but brief description of the character given to the audience. The jurors came to the deliberation room from a wide variety of backgrounds, some with sinister temperaments, some more meek and some rather absurd.
A vote started things off, calling on all 12 jurors to say whether they believed the 16-year-old boy at the center of the murder trial was guilty or not. At 11-to-one for “guilty,” the vote left one woman, Juror 8 (Lois Shih) in the position of the embattled minority, facing off against all others in the room to explain why she felt she had “reasonable doubt” about his guilt. Immediately, Juror 8 goes to head against Juror 3 (Rhianna ReVries) and Juror 10 (Ray Reidenbaugh), who are the most violently convinced of the boy’s guilt and described at the onset as “sadistic” and “bigoted,” respectively. The entire play unfolded through the recounting of various pieces of evidence and testimonies from the trial, with the prejudices, weaknesses and ferocity of the characters increasingly revealed.
Throughout the play, many of the characters evolve as they bump up against the others’ stark differences. Juror 1, the foreman (Gracie Jacobson), desperately tries to keep order in the room, Juror 2 (Evan Monteith) moves from painfully self-conscious to more assertive, and Juror 4 (Alek Seballes) tries to focus solely on the facts of the case, eventually giving up as Juror 8 breaks down the argument. The underprivileged background of Juror 5 (Marcos Descalzi) is uncovered, much to his sensitivity, and the easy-going Juror 6 (Annaleisa Friednash) calls out injustice when she sees it. Juror 7 (Isaiah Adams) is brash and offensive, if relatively harmless, and Juror 9 (Tamarra Nelson) is an old woman who, although walked all over by other jurors, asserts her opinion in satisfying quips. Juror 11 (Anthony Adu) is a European immigrant sensitive to injustice, often seen casually chatting with proud marketing firm employee, Juror 12 (Shelby Lynhall).
Juror 8 expertly argues her points in the face of intense opposition, slowly but surely convincing the other jurors of her position as she pokes holes in the testimony of the prosecution. The last juror to break is Juror 3, who gives up in an explosive outburst about her shattered relationship with her son, which has been weighing heavily on her opinion of the defendant’s guilt.
Impressively timely for a decades-old play, the plot addresses societal prejudice, with the boy at the center of the case consistently referred to as one of “those people” who comes from the slums, and Juror 10 claiming that “not one of them is good.” The choice of a gender-blind casting made for a fresh telling of the originally solely white male play. For a story told entirely through dialogue recounting past events and set in a purposely bland room, the play manages to be riveting, pulling the audience into its compelling characters and tense moments regardless of the lack of set and motion.
Reidenbaugh brilliantly shocked the room into silence with Juror 10’s crazed, racist outburst, and Nelson fully embodied Juror 9’s old age and quiet, observant temperament. DeVries and Shih shone at the core of the play’s conflict. DeVries’s cocky and deranged performance certainly made the show opposite Shih’s confident and earnest one. All in all, the play was an excellent choice brought to life by a glowing cast.
For the Department of Theatre’s next show, check out the Senior Short Play Festival, Cycle 2, from May 24-27. Tickets are available through the department’s website.
