THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A MORE URGENT OR RELEVANT TIME PERIOD TO PERFORM 12 ANGRY JURORS. This 1954 play written by Reginald Rose, has remained timeless in its dissection and ruthless, unflinching observations of bigotry, discrimination and the sometimes dubious mechanism of our justice system. The Pickerington Community Theatre
(PCTshows.com) has decided to postpone this event until annum 2022 will be producing this play in 2021. “The drama depicts a jury forced to consider a homicide trial. At the beginning, they have a nearly unanimous decision of guilty, with a single dissenter of not-guilty, who throughout the play sows a seed of reasonable doubt The story begins after closing arguments have been presented in the homicide case, as the judge is giving his instructions to the jury. As in most American criminal cases, the twelve men must unanimously decide on a verdict of “guilty” or “not guilty”. (In the justice systems of nearly all American states, failure to reach a unanimous verdict, a so-called “hung jury” , results in a mistrial ) The case at hand pertains to whether a young man murdered his own father. The jury is further instructed that a guilty verdict will be accompanied by a mandatory death sentence. In the jury room, they begin to become acquainted with the personalities of their peers. Several of the jurors have different reasons for discriminating against the defendant: his race, his background, and the troubled relationship between one juror and his own son. The lone dissenter gradually wins over the other jurors to a unanimous not-guilty verdict, by questioning the reliability of the evidence presented in court and exposing his fellow jurors’ prejudices.
The characters are unnamed; throughout their deliberation, not a single juror calls another by his name, and they are identified in the script merely by number. (FROM WIKIPEDIA)
