Theater. 

I don’t know about you, but me personally I absolutely love theater. I’ve been doing it since seventh grade and now I am used to things like long rehearsals, tech weeks, costume fittings, backstage laughs, all of that jazz. Here at East Islip, we do theater well with shows like Murder on the Orient Express, A Christmas Carol, and Game of Tiaras having success and winning a TEENY award.

This year, the fall show, 12 Angry Jurors by Reginald Rose, is running Friday November 1st and Saturday November 2nd in Rydzeski Hall. If you haven’t heard of 12 Angry Jurors, I’ll give you some background about it. 

What is 12 Angry Jurors?

12 Angry Jurors is a play written by Reginald Rose. It is set in the deliberation room of a courthouse where twelve jurors have to determine whether or not a teenage boy is guilty of murdering his father. The play has had two movie adaptations so far – 1957 and 1997 – under the original name of the play, 12 Angry Men.

These 12 jurors have very different personalities which you will see eventually on stage. This show deals with a lot of serious topics and one of them is prejudice. In the play (without revealing too much…), Juror #10 is very prejudiced and is essentially one of the main antagonists. After reading the script myself, it is very good and I am so excited to share what the cast and crew have prepared for your viewing pleasure! Which leads me to another question you may have…

What can you expect from the cast?

So, here’s the real question: what can you expect from the cast this year? Well, freshman Kylen Curry says that we can expect “intense acting our group shows throughout the show.” Curry also says that the audience will enjoy the fact that there are no scene changes. Because of the “Black Box” aspect the audience will be truly engaged – they will be “sitting on the stage instead of the auditorium, making them feel like they are truly on trial with the actors.”

Director Bethany Affelt says that since many people are familiar with the movie, they’ll know what they are walking into. However if people are unfamiliar with it, she’ll want them “to feel a bit of compassion for most of the characters” since “this might be what goes on when twelve people decide the fate of another person.”

So, what do I think? I think that we can expect a lot of drama, a lot of heavier topics than what we are used to since this play deals with prejudice, murder and so on, but what I’m really excited for is for the audience to see all of the hard work we put into this show.

When is the play and how can you get tickets?

 The play is November 1st and 2nd in the Rydzeski Hall at East Islip High School. Because there is limited seating for this show, it’s a good idea to get your seats in advance at THIS WEBSITE.