Those who come to Kirk Players’ “Night of January 16th” may get to decide if a woman murdered her boss.
If they’re chosen as one of 12 jurors, they’ll deliver the verdict at the show’s end, which opens Oct. 15 at Mundelein High School.
Written by Russian-American author Ayn Rand and first produced on Broadway in 1935, the play is set in a courtroom during a murder trial with an innovative technique in which 12 audience members serve as the jurors.
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When the play has been performed over the years, the jurors have both acquitted the defendant as well as found her guilty, and that can make for a lot of after-theater discussion, according to Kat Basso, who is directing the show. It runs at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15 and 16, and 2 p.m. Oct. 17.
“There’s never a dull moment in the play,” Basso said. “There is a kerfuffle in the courtroom a couple of times. Attorneys are going at each other and the bailiff might have to intervene. It’s a slice of court life that holds true.”
“Night of January 16th” was the first play the Kirk Players presented when they opened their doors in 1966.
“Kirk Players has been wanting to do the play again for many years. We decided, we’re going back to live theater, so this is when we should bring it back,” said Basso, who has acted and directed for the theater troupe for 15 years.
“Because we hadn’t have had live theater for so long, it felt right to do this show now, to bring the passion back, to say, this was our first show and we’re back,” Basso said.
Gretchen Grassl, the group’s artistic director, said Bob Olsen, a Libertyville resident who played the role of inspector for the 1966 show, will be at the Saturday night performance.
“He is looking forward to meeting the cast after the show,” Grassl said, adding, “I look forward to hearing his thoughts and memories of working with the group’s founder John W. Lynn in that historical first show.”
Following COVID-19 mandates, the cast of 17 will be masked while performing and audiences are required to be masked as well. Basso said the masks the cast are wearing are built in such a way that the audience will easily be able to see facial expressions and hear the words clearly.
The play takes place solely in the courtroom as Karen Andre, former secretary and lover of business owner Bjorn Faulkner, is accused of killing him.
“It is extremely well written, and I think the testimonies conflict, and that happens in real life as well,” Basso said.
Kirk Players will perform the version of the play Rand revised in 1968. “Rand didn’t like what the Broadway director did to her play, so she revised it and called it the definitive version,” Basso said.
“Rand didn’t believe in conforming to society. She wanted people to be individualistic, to really think about whether they believe in somebody’s morals,” Basso said.
One of the characters is a gangster. The playwright challenges the audience “to listen to his testimony and figure out whether to believe him or not,” and whether the fact that he is a gangster colors their decision, Basso said.
Twelve members of the audience will serve as jurors, and can put their names in a bucket at the beginning of each play for the chance to be chosen.
“They will make the verdict offstage and choose whether she is guilty or not,” Basso said. The author wrote two endings, depending on what the jury decides.
Basso said she is helping the actors develop their characters. It’s one of the most important things to do as a director, she said.
For example, she asked the actor playing the bailiff to determine whether she was married, where she lives and other background information.
“The actor came up with an entire back story where she was from Brooklyn and has lived in New York all her life. She’s very steeped in the traditions of New York. But when she gets to the courtroom, she can’t be boisterous or opinionated … You have to have well-rounded characters for the play to be authentic and believable to the audience.”
Basso and her assistant director, Jessica Motyka, are working to create an austere look of a courtroom that transcends ages, she said.
“We are building three walls against the backgrounds of deep wood and molding that shows the look and feel of a courtroom,” she said.
Basso, who has training in theater, said she believe Kirk Players raises the bar for community theaters.
“lf we are having fun on the stage, the audience will have fun, too. If we are enjoying the tension and the drama, the audience will feel that,” she said.
‘Night of January 16th’
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15 and 16, 2 p.m. Oct. 17
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Where: Mundelein High School, 1350 Hawley St., Mundelein
Tickets: $5-$15
Information: 847-521-6192, kirkplayers.org
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.