This year Briar Woods High School’s theater department is performing “12 Angry Jurors” for the fall play. What is “12 Angry Jurors” exactly? It is based on the 1957 movie 12 Angry Men. The film revolves around twelve men who are summoned to jury duty, where they meet a 19-year old boy who has been charged with killing his father. After a very compelling court trial, eleven of the jurors believe the boy is guilty, but one of them has a reasonable doubt that the boy is innocent. They all must decide unanimously, whether to vote the boy guilty or not guilty.

Compared to last year’s “Romeo and Juliet”, this performance is definitely less Shakesphere dialogue and more 50’s-type dialogue. The audience is going to be on risers located on the stage just a few feet away from the actors. The audience is right in front of the action, to allow for complete immersion in the viewing of the performance.  

Dr. Tim Willmot announced “12 Angry Jurors” as the fall production at the theater interest meeting, back in August. Now the cast is decided and it seems that people will have many opportunities to see the play;  there are six showtimes. 

The show is sure to be an entertaining production. The whole thing takes place in a small jurors’ room. It really shows how trapped these people are until they decide the young boy’s fate. “The most powerful element is how grounded it is; it’s truly a human story,” said Thrinath Chinnapati, Juror 5. Instead of a fantasy setting where most messages are not relatable, “12 Angry Jurors” really is a story about humans, their beliefs and emotions.

This really isn’t like any of Briar’s previous shows, the character development is a lot more emphasized.  The reason being is that the Jurors don’t have written names, so they are a forgetful. The actors playing them however, are far less forgetful because they’re going full force to bring these characters to life. “I get into the mindset of the character,” said Kira Shinas, Juror 2.  

Six different shows gives the audience a chance to see other actors rendition of the same character every night. “I rewrite every line in my own words,” said Tanvika Vegiraju, Juror 4.  Each character has a different, distinguishable feature to them; one character might be very skittish and shy, while another may be loud.