PL AYBILL twelve angry men
twelve angry men reginald rose }{
A pproxi m at e ru n ni ng t i m e: 2 hou rs T her e w ill be one 20 m i nu t e i n t er m ission
ARTIST NOTE: WILLIAM WEBSTER
As we reconvene on Twelve Angry Men, I’ve been thinking a lot about George Stinney. Stinney, a 14-year-old black boy from South Carolina, was convicted of murder in 1944. In less than three months he was tried and put to death – the youngest person to be executed in the U.S. in the 20th century. He was arrested without a warrant. He was questioned without a lawyer. There was only circumstantial evidence: the word of a local police chief. The allwhite, all-male jury took only 10 minutes to return a guilty verdict. In 2014 a state judge ruled that Stinney had not received a fair trial, and his conviction was vacated. It took 70 years to overturn the injustice of his sentence. A decade after Stinney’s execution, Reginald Rose’s play was first presented as a live television drama. By 1957 it was a Broadway hit and Hollywood film. Set in New York, it’s important to remember context. The paranoia of the Cold War, the McCarthy hearings and palpable fear of
the rising chaos of gangs that created an unhealthy sense of Isolation, Otherness and Terror. In the play, a jury of 12 men holds the life of a 16-year-old boy in its hands. We have been given instructions by the judge, told we must come to a unanimous verdict of “Guilty” or, tempered by Reasonable Doubt, find the child “Not Guilty.” Visual evidence is often said to be the least reliable of proofs. It reminds me of the remarkable late Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. Eye witnessing led to 19 years wrongful incarceration. Yet this man triumphed as few could. He shared his moral and spiritual strength with us here in Toronto and we are the better for it. Who we are now is not who we were then. Amen.
p roduc t ion s p on sor
William Webster, Juror 10 in Twelve Angry Men
CREATIVE TEAM
TWELVE ANGRY MEN
CAST
Byron Abalos Juror 5
Stuart Hughes Juror 8
Michael Simpson Juror 6
Derek Boyes Juror 2
Cyrus Lane Juror 7
William Webster Juror 10
Kevin Bundy Juror 12
Robert Nasmith Juror 9
Joseph Ziegler Juror 3
Tim Campbell Juror 4
Jordan Pettle Juror 11
Tony DeSantis Foreman of the Jury
Andre Sills G uard
Produc tion
Alan Dilworth Director
Robert Harding Production Stage Manager
Eric Armstrong Dialect Coach
Yannik Larivée Set & Costume Designer
Marinda de Beer Stage Manager
Kelly McEvenue Alexander Coach
Kimberly Purtell Lighting Designer
Robin Munro Assistant Stage Manager
Jareth Li Assistant Lighting Designer
Richard Feren Sound Designer
Simon Fon Fight Director
SOULPEPPER PRODUC T ION
Jacqueline Robertson-Cull Wigs Running, Head of Hair & Makeup
Natalie Swiercz Dresser
Geoff Hughes Cutters
Ksenia Ivanova Paul Boddum Scenic Painters
Barbara Nowakowski First Hand
Greg Chambers Props Builder
Michael Ahn Bill Stahl Carpenters
The video and audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever are strictly prohibited. Twelve Angry Men is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. jos e p h z i e gl e r , M ic h a e l s i m p son , s t ua rt h ugh e s, jor da n p e t t l e , ton y de s a n t i s (2 0 14 p roduc t ion ). P hoto: c y l l a von t i e de m a n n .
BACKGROUND NOTES
R
easonable doubt is a fundamental principle in the criminal justice systems of both the United States and Canada. It’s the standard of evidence required for a criminal conviction, with the prosecution – in Canada The Crown – bearing the burden of proof. We’re all aware that an accused person is innocent until their guilt is proved in court beyond a reasonable doubt, but how many of us know what that really means in practice? Playwright Reginald Rose certainly didn’t before he was called up for jury duty in 1954. The experience made a deep impression on him (and on his career): I was overwhelmed. I was on a jury for a manslaughter case, and we got into this terrific, furious, eight-hour argument in the jury room.
The electric television drama that resulted won an Emmy Award. Rose then adapted it into a film and finally into a stage play. Each version focuses powerfully on the characters and the question before them: is the teenaged defendant guilty of murder? The 12 men of the title enter the stifling jury room on “the hottest day of the year” carrying all their prejudices, beliefs, doubts, passions, worries and problems with them. It seems like an open and shut case but Juror Number 8 is determined to preserve the notion of reasonable doubt. As he puts it: “We’re talking about somebody’s life here. We can’t decide in five minutes. Supposing we’re wrong?”
We are so pleased to welcome this reinvigorated classic back to our stage. The play has obviously stood the test of time but our production shone because of the care, tenderness and emotional commitment of the entire cast and creative team. Our audiences embraced it and we were very proud when it was recognized last year by a Dora Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. Experience its power and thrilling immediacy once more, or take it in for the first time. Either way, there is so much to savour. Play wright Biogr aph y
Reginald Rose was born in New York City in 1920. After military service during the war, he began writing for television. His gritty dramas aired on the CBS anthology series Studio One, where Twelve Angry Men premiered in 1954. It won Rose an Emmy and later an Academy Award nomination. The now-classic 1957 film was actually a box office disappointment, partly because it was in black and white and couldn’t compete with the brand new technicolor movies that were all the rage. Rose continued to write for TV and his influence is evident today: he pioneered the spare, realist style many network dramas still rely on. His last big success came in the ‘60s with The Defenders, a TV series, for which he won a second Emmy. Reginald Rose died of heart failure in 2002.
Background Notes by 2016 Soulpepper Resident Artist Paula Wing
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