The Plaza Alliance for the Performing Arts (PAPA) recently announced its cast for “Twelve Angry Jurors.” Performance dates are set for Nov. 9, 10, 16 and 17 at 7 p.m., and Nov. 12 and 19 at 3 p.m. at The Plaza Arts Center Theater in Eatonton.
No Saturday performances are scheduled.
Cast members for PAPA’s production of “Twelve Angry Jurors” include (front row, l-r): Becky Nipper, Bill Dudley and co-director Sarah Daly-Weir, and (back row l-r): Phil Armstrong, Michelle Saarela, Johnny Wagoner, Darlene McCumiskey, Sandy Young, Dan Kniffen, Brent Mero, Greter Naranjo, Sue Strange and Diane Shinneman.
Not shown are Lou Benjamin, Doug Ivey and Robin Cassidy.
Directed by Daly-Weir and Dennis McClain, this production is based on the 1954 television movie “12 Angry Men” by Reginald Rose, who won an Emmy for the teleplay and an Oscar nomination for Rose after he adapted the play for a 1957 movie by Sherman Sergel. Sergel later wrote an all-female cast version of the same play, which later was adapted for a 2004-‘05 run as “Twelve Angry Jurors” on Broadway.
Set in a large U.S. city, circa the 1950s, the plot of “Twelve Angry Jurors” centers on intense jury deliberations following the trial of a 19-year-old man accused of the fatal stabbing of his father.
“He doesn’t stand a chance,” the guard mutters as he leads jurors off to deliberate. It looks like an open-and-shut case until one of the jurors begins calling attention to particular pieces of evidence and perception of that evidence.
“This is a remarkable thing about democracy, that we are notified by mail to come down to this place and decide on the guilt or innocence of a man; of a man we have not known before,” the foreign-born juror observes.
“We have nothing to gain or lose by our verdict. We should not make it a personal thing.”
But it soon becomes intensely personal, with the play’s dialogue revealing each juror’s character and prejudices.
As various testimonies are re-examined, the murder is re-enacted, and tempers grow shorter, arguments become heated, and soon there are 12 angry jurors – angry at each other, but also at their own frustrations. Intense and dramatic scenes lead to a final decision on guilt versus not guilty.
The process inevitably electrifies the audience as it awaits the result. This always popular play provides an exceptional piece of dramatic literature that deals with basic human emotions, assumptions and reasoning to reach its climax.
PAPA, part of The Plaza Arts Foundation, Inc., is producing “Twelve Angry Jurors” by special arrangement with The Dramatic Publishing Company of Woodstock, Ill. Tickets for The Plaza’s presentation of “Twelve Angry Jurors” are available online now at plazacenter.org or by calling 706-923-1655.
Any available tickets will be sold at the door before each performance. Tickets are priced at $25, $20 and $15 each.