The La Grange Area Teen Theatre Ensemble (LATTE) is bringing to life one of the most socially relevant movies of the last century.
“Twelve Angry Jurors” is based on the 1957 film, “Twelve Angry Men,” a landmark courtroom drama that captured three Academy Awards, and will run the weekend of Nov. 10-12.
“I’m very excited for people to see this show and to be able to perform with my cast mates,” Parker Larson, the La Grange Park resident who plays the lead character, Juror Number 8, said.
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The plot revolves around a 16-year-old New York City boy accused of stabbing his father to death. With seemingly unimpeachable witnesses to the crime, the boy’s date with the electric chair looks certain.
But Larson’s character, based on Henry Fonda’s character in the film, resists the rush to judgment by voting not guilty in the first straw vote, sparking a series of discussions that ultimately lead to a not-guilty verdict.
“I think the people that will love this show the most are people who have been on juries before because they might be able to relate to the show even more,” she said. “I think they would be thinking about if the would be juror number 8 or juror 3 (angry and ready to convict).”
Indeed, the plot exposes human frailties and biases seldom seen in movies of the era. The jurors are never referred to by name, only by number. And as might be expected form the era, they were all white males in the film.
But they did come from all walks of life, and include an architect, a salesperson, a hot-tempered business owner, and a Baltimore Orioles fan who grew up in a rough neighborhood and resents the attitude of some of his fellow jurors toward “slum kids,” of which the accused is one.
One witness said they saw the murder and another said they heard the boy threaten his father. The boy had a violent past and he had recently purchased a switchblade knife.
But as the plot moves on, we learn that the one witness’s eyesight was questionable, the location of another witness’s apartment made it impossible to be trusted, and the angle of the knife attack meant it couldn’t have been made by the shorter son.
One by one, the jurors switch their votes, ultimately resulting in leading an acquittal.
The cast is made up entirely of area teens, many of whom are veterans of LATTE productions.
Portraying Juror Number 5, based on the Jack Klugman character in the movie — sensitive to negative biases toward poor kids — is Elena Hernandez-Rahman, a 16-year-old junior at Hinsdale South High School.
“She is a night nurse in a Harlem Hospital, and she is offended at the opinions of some of the jurors regarding the boy,” she said. “She was brought up in a similar slum environment and feels the judgment.”
Darian Galan, an eight-grader from Westmont’s Westview Middle School who plays juror number 1, the jury foreman, echoed Hernandez-Rahman’s sentiments.
“People who care about justice and doing the right thing will love this show,” he said. “The show is about seeing things from other people’s perspective. It’s taught me not to judge too quickly. I hope the audience thinks about ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and how it’s relevant today.”
Hernandez-Rahman’s brother, Lucas, an 11-year-old Gower Middle School student, plays Juror Number 2, a banker, who noted the narrative touched on sensitive topics.
“I’ve learned that everyone has different opinions and can get very angry when others don’t agree,” he said. “Doing the right thing and speaking up is hard. Changing minds and ideas is difficult, but it can be done.”
The show’s director and LATTE’s founder, Felicia Pfluger, talked about what made the narrative special.
“12 Angry Men is an exceptional movie that is shockingly relevant today,” she said.
Not lost on Pfluger is the struggle that women had being accepted as jurors in the last century, noting that women’s struggles paralleled that of the accused on the play and that with all the progress made, more is needed.
“Yet, on this journey, we have so far to go,” she said. “For what we must judge someone on is what they’ve done, not who they are.”
“12 Angry Jurors,” a play in three acts, will run Nov. 10-12, at the Plymouth Place Auditorium, 315 N. La Grange Rd.
The Friday/Saturday performances will have a 7 p.m. curtain call. Sunday’s performance will start at 2 p.m.
For further information on the production, visit the La Grange Area Teen Theater Ensemble website, lattetheater.com
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.Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.