PORT ANGELES — A 19-year-old man from the slums is on trial for murdering his father.
Deciding his fate are one dozen jurors — each with his own baggage — who constitute “Twelve Angry Men,” the famed drama taking the stage of the Port Angeles Community Playhouse for just three performances tonight through Sunday.
This version of “Twelve,” the Reginald Rose play many know from the 1957 movie starring Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden and Jack Klugman, is a staged “script-in-hand” reading by a diverse collection of local men.
They include Pat Owens in Fonda’s role, alongside a cast including Robert Sommers, Charles Strickland, Ross Kavanaugh, Tony Cook, Ean Henninger, Bob Bronsink, Graham Hutchins, Gerry Morris and Chandler Wendeborn.
Curtain time at the playhouse at 1235 E. Lauridsen Blvd. is 7:30 tonight and Saturday night, and
2 p.m. Sunday. Admission is by donation, and details are available by phoning 360-452-6651.
The men, who go only by their juror numbers, are a kind of cross-section of society. Among them: No. 3, the fiery one; No. 7, a slick salesman; No. 11, a refugee from Europe who has seen too much injustice; No. 10, a bitter bigot; No. 5, a young man who like the defendant comes from a rough part of town; No. 4, a stockbroker; No. 12, an arrogant advertising executive; and No. 8, the thoughtful, compassionate one who is devoted to justice.
He’s the juror who votes for a “not guilty” verdict first, while the rest have their reasons, rational and otherwise, for believing the defendant did commit the crime.
And though this is a reading, the actors have become so familiar with the script that they aren’t merely reading anymore, said director Caralee Rupprecht.
“They interact; they talk to each other,” she said.
Those who haven’t seen the movie won’t know the denouement, she added, “till the very, very end.”
And though “Twelve Angry Men” is one intense story, “there are some funny parts, which I like,” said Rupprecht, who produced the play with her drama students at Port Angeles High School back in the 1970s.
“The students got it,” recalled the director, who retired in 2004 after 40 years teaching English and drama.
Shelley Taylor, a Sequim actress who appeared on television’s “General Hospital” in the mid-1980s, trades off with Marine Jahan, also a veteran performer, to play the small part of the guard in “Twelve.”
Jahan’s husband, Leonard Hirschfeld, and Taylor’s spouse, Greg Taylor, meanwhile, play two of the jurors.
“Marine and I are like nervous parents, attending rehearsals” and providing encouragement, Shelley Taylor said.
After each performance, “we’ll also have a little audience participation,” she promised. “We will ask for a show of hands to see if our audience agrees or disagrees with the jurors’ verdict.”
