November 1st and 2nd, the East Islip High School drama club put on the play 12 Angry Jurors, where the audience got an inside look at a tense jury room for a murder trial. The play was directed by Mrs. Affelt and was performed at Rydzeski Hall.
With help from Mr. Tucker, the stage crew built a “black box theater” on the stage meaning the audience was on stage with the actors. This decision ensured that the audience felt like they were actually in the jury room and helped them truly feel the emotion from the actors.
Another unique aspect of this play was there were several pre-show actors around the lobby and the seats whose role added to the overall experience by making it feel real. Each audience member was scanned by a “security guard” prior to getting to their seats. In between acts, audience members were asked about their thoughts on the case by a “journalist.”
The show was utterly incredible, with an absolutely amazing cast. The entire cast did an outstanding job and received a standing ovation, with some extra cheers for the five seniors in the show: Juliana Banville (Chairperson), Venti Ammenwerth (Juror 2), Tyler Hilms (Juror 3), Keith Klein (Juror 7), and Amanda Bolen (Juror 9).
Juror #8 was a very large and important role that “proved to be very challenging at times,” according to the junior Ethan Jensen who played the role. Although a role like that can be stressful, Jensen had an overall positive experience working on 12 Angry Jurors.
“Being surrounded by such amazing actors at a young age is not something that many people get to experience,” Jensen explained. “So I am very grateful to be lucky enough to be included in this adventure.”
Preparing for the roles was no easy task. The actors were not provided with a backstory of their character because the characters in the story do not have too much of their lives revealed, so the actors were sent home with a bit of homework for their character, as it was important for the actors to truly embody their roles. The cast was asked to envision their character’s age, marital status, job, and more.
“They had to answer all these questions so they could really flesh out like a real person and not have it just be juror #3 who’s angry, or juror #10 who’s a bigot,” Affelt said. “I wanted there to be more behind all that. It was really incredible what the students came up with.”
The drama club has consistently performed wonderful shows that do not disappoint. Their next step is the spring musical, Big Fish, which will be produced in accordance with Mr. Neske’s pit orchestra and Mr. Tucker’s stage crew, and will come to Rydzeski Hall March 20th-22nd.
