PAPA presents Twelve Angry Jurors

Directed by Sarah Daly Weir & Dennis McClain

The Plaza Alliance for the Performing Arts (PAPA) has been working hard to bring to life Twelve Angry Jurors for the Lake Country.

The production, directed by Sarah Daly Weir and Dennis McClain, is based on the Emmy award-winning television movie Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose and adapted for stage by Sherman Sergei. Later, an all-female cast version of the same play was also written by Sergei. Twelve Angry Jurors is a combination of both versions to allow for a mixed gender cast.

PAPA has been working for months to rehearse, build the set and get costumes ready for this group of performances. The shows are always a hit in the Lake Country and this play is going to be no exception.

The play is set in a large city, circa 1950's. The plot centers around intense jury deliberations following the trial of a 19-year old man accused of the fatal stabbing of his father. "He doesn't stand a chance," mutters the guard as he leads the jurors off to deliberate. It looks like an open-and-shut case, until one of the jurors begins calling attention to particular pieces of evidence and perception of that evidence. "This is a remarkable thing about democracy," says the foreign-born juror, "that we are notified by mail to come down to this place, and decide on the guilt or innocence of a man; of a man we have not known before. We have nothing to gain or lose by our verdict. We should not make it a personal thing." But personal it becomes, as the dialogue begins and jurors reveal both character and prejudice. As the various testimonies are re-examined, the murder is re-enacted and tempers get short, arguments grow heated, and the jurors become 12 angry jurors, angry at each other and at their own frustrations, intense and dramatic scenes lead to a final verdict.

Cast members include Johnny Wagoner, Bill Dudley, Diane Bennett Shinneman, Sandy Young, Darlene McCumiskey, Lou Benjamin, Michelle Saarela, Dan Kniffen, and Doug Ivey, all of whom have been involved in previous PAPA productions. Newcomers appearing on the Plaza stage for the first time are Phil Armstrong, Becky Nipper, Sue Strange, Brent Mero, Robin Cassidy, and Gretter Navanjo.

Dates: November 9 - 19, 2023

Showtimes: Thursdays & Fridays at 7:30 PM and Sundays at 3:00 PM

Tickets are priced at $25, $20, $15 and are available online at www.plazacenter.org or by calling 706-923-1655.

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