OHS Theatre’s final production of the season will be Sherman L. Sergel’s stage adaptation of “12 Angry Men.” This classic courtroom drama will be put on in the black box theatre from May 7 to May 9.
This play is an adaptation of the 1957 teleplay of the same title. The storyline features 12 jurors deciding the fate of a 19 year old boy accused of murdering his father. OHS Theatre director John Davenport will be putting this show on for the fourth time since 2002.
“I knew this is the one show I’ve done the most in my career here,” Davenport said. “I was trying to think ahead, and I thought, I could do “12 Angry Men” just because I know the script so well. So that was one of the reasons for doing it. The script is just so good, and it’s a great acting tool.”
Performing a classic play functions as a bridge from the past to the present. “12 Angry Men” holds issues that are still relevant in the modern world, including biased judgement, group mentality and bigotry. Davenport finds that their performance will bring a youthful twist to the mature production.
“The characters are written to be in their 30s and older, and here we are 18 and under,” Davenport said. “I think it has such a different impact when you think about it as 12 young angry men. This experience of having to decide the fate of a kid who’s almost the same age that they are, has a much larger impact on the audience.”
This production’s all male cast includes junior Evan Knight, who is playing the role of Juror four. The students are performing the modern adaptation that came 40 years after the 1957 film. This specific show is less focused on the visual enhancements, and more focused on the dialogue and acting of the characters.
“I feel like if we add special effects, then it kind of takes away from the plot,” Knight said. “The story is already vivid. It lets the audience make their own decisions instead of holding their hands about it.”
While many students who are active participants in theatre are in this production, there are a few who have decided to take the leap into the theatre world, Senior Russell Moore is one of them.
“I kind of flipped a coin with my friend Tate Lynn, who is one of the jurors,” Moore said. “It landed on heads and that was our little deal, so I just went ahead and did it. I am a guard, so it’s a pretty simple role – which is probably good for me since I’ve never done it before.”
Davenport and the students are striving to make the production quite similar to the classic film and adaptation.
“I think this is going to be really, really close. I think this is almost going to be exactly spot on, obviously, except for the actors,” Moore said. “Right now, we are working on getting certain beats. Everybody is getting their right steps and getting to where they need to be in the play to actually make it interesting and engaging to the viewers.”
The combination of new and regular students in this theatre production make for a well rounded cast. The popularity of the classic film became the reason for many to audition for their first OHS Theatre production. The story of “12 Angry Men” is not too different from the cooperation of the cast in real life.
“What’s nice about it is that we’ve mixed some veteran performers with some brand new performers,” Davenport said. “The whole point of the script is a hodgepodge of people with different backgrounds and different life experiences kind of coming together in a way to make a decision. So it kind of works.”
