‘Twelve Angry Men’ comes to the Civic

By Emilie E. Tole
Western Herald

This Friday, The Kalamazoo Civic Theatre and the Senior Class Reader’s Theatre will present to the community “Twelve Angry Men.”

The play was originally written by Reginald Rose as a made-for-television movie. The television version first aired in 1954.

Rose’s adaptation for the theatre did not make its Broadway debut until 50 years later in 2004. On October 28, 2004, “Twelve Angry Men” opened at New York’s Roundabout Theatre and ran for 328 performances.

“Twelve Angry Men” takes place in a conference room and is a story about a jury that must decide the verdict of a 19-year-old man who is accused of stabbing his father to death.

Without much deliberation, the jury comes to an almost unanimous decision that the boy is guilty. One juror does not find the boy guilty, and throughout the remaining 90 minutes of the production he sets out to persuade the other jurors to vote in the defendant’s favor.

The jurors learn to set aside their own prejudices and vendettas and look at every angle of the evidence in order to come to an un-biased decision. The characters go through much more than deciding a verdict. Personal emotions and convictions and experiences lead to heated arguments among themselves and thus, the birth of 12 angry men.
This particular production of “Twelve Angry Men” is a bit different than most, in that it is a staged reading. Traditionally, what this means is that the actors sit or stand stationary for most of the performance and lines are read from the script with vocal inflection.

Also, because this is a Senior Class Reader’s Theatre presentation, all cast members are over the age of 50.

“This is a little different,” Director Don Dillon III said.

Photo courtesy of Ben Zylman/Three of the proformers for “Twelve Angry Men” at the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre rehearse their staged reading of the play. From left to right: Wally Kipp, Gary Willoughby and William Aksel.

Unlike other staged readings, the actors of the Civic production have been given some stage direction and do not remain stationary the entire time.

“This show has been blocked, but the scripts are in front of the actors even though some have memorized their lines,” Dillon said.

“This makes for a better experience for the actors as well as the audience.”

Dillon has been directing for almost 40 years and ranks this show among some of his best experiences. Dillon has mostly done musical direction, and this is his first experience with the Senior Class Reader’s Theatre.

He mentioned that the cast is a real mix of people from all different arenas of theatre.

“Some are senior veterans, some have taught in the theatre, and some have never even acted before,” Dillon said. “It’s been fun watching their growth, and it’s been a really strong and good experience for me.”

“Twelve Angry Men” will be performed in the Carver Center Studio at 426 South St. Performances will be held on April 23 at 2 p.m., April 24 at 7 p.m. and April 25 at 2 p.m.
Information on tickets can be found at www.kazoocivic.com or by calling the Civic box office at 269-343-1313.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Apr 21 2010. Filed under A & E, Weekend Scene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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