As the week of the play draws near, the stress, excitement and anticipation of those involved manifests. This year’s fall show is “12 Angry Jurors”, a gender-neutral play modeled after the popular 1950’s movie “12 Angry Men”. Olivia Carrier, the show’s dramaturg, summarizes the plot of the play.
“The show is about a jury who must decide the fate of a young man on trial,” Carrier said. “Throughout the show, the jurors present different arguments about the man’s guilt or innocence.”
Recent past HSE productions have had an emphasis on comedy, the last drama being the 2015 production of “Still Life with Iris”, an adventure fantasy drama by Steven Dietz.
“It has been awhile since HSE has put on a drama, so it is exciting to see the cast take on the challenge of a mature show,” Carrier said. “This show also has a large cast in terms of a play, so the actors must make their individual characters as specific and real as possible.”
Although the play differs in casting, the challenge of upholding the show and it’s meaning is equally stressed.
“The moral of the show is a timeless one and we want to do it justice,” Carrier said. “This means that everyone in the cast and crew must fully understand the time period and how it affects the decisions we make in our production. The actors are constantly engaged on stage and they must portray their characters appropriately to the time period.”
The construction of the Little Theatre is also a prevalent trial for both the cast and crew. Costumer Katie Krutsick had to adjust her work ethic because of the changes being made to the theatre.
“The construction of the Little Theatre definitely put a bump in the road to getting the costumes done but nonetheless, costumes [crew] has persevered,” Krutsick said. “Our job feels a lot slower right now due to not being able to set up the costume room [as well as] things being a little disorganized, but we are slowly and surely getting there.”
The cast also adapted to the changes by utilizing the Leonard Auditorium for rehearsal. Actress, Haley Stroup felt this change first hand.
“Since this is my third fall play I’ve acted in, I’ve noticed a drastic change in rehearsals due to us moving to the Leonard,” Stroup said. “Trying to imagine spacing for the whole show has been really difficult for all of us because the Leonard is obviously much larger than the Little Theatre.”
Although the construction acts as an obstacle for everyone involved, the cast and crew persist in the production of the show.
Students, staff and the community can watch the show on Nov. 16, 17 and 18 at 7 PM in the Little Theatre.
