The James Logan Courier

By Gabriele Di Fiore, Courier Staff Writer


Twelve Angry Jurors is a play about a jury that cannot reach a verdict. The case is about a black teenage boy accused of murdering his father. I included the word "black" because this play is set in the 1950's, a time when racism was still open and obvious in a lot of places.


Even in the jury room.
As presented by the James Logan Drama Department, the play itself exceeded my expectations. I'm not a guy who goes to plays, and I thought the play would be boring and uninteresting, but it was the opposite. It was interesting, loud, intense, and even funny at some parts.

The beginning was quite dull, but the rest of the play made up for that dullness. Also the play is very easy to follow because it is basically one very long scene and there is only one setting.

The setting is a jury room. In the beginning, eleven out of twelve jurors in the room vote guilty, based on a senile old man's testimony and the fact that the boy is black.

According to the most of the jurors, that's all the evidence they need to convict him, but one juror is not convinced. She believes the boy is innocent until proven guilty.

This juror goes over the case, bringing up all the reasons why the boy should be found innocent, and, one by one, she wins over the jury.