LANSING - Enter the gripping courtroom drama at Riverwalk Theatre as "12 Angry Men" are brought together to deliberate after hearing the 'facts' in what looks like a seemingly open and shut murder case. They retire to a jury room to do their civic duty and serve up a just verdict for the defendant whose life is in the balance. While a guilty verdict appears inevitable, one reluctant juror is not so convinced and works to convince the other jurors of his innocence. What begins as a convincing case of murder soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other. This stage play is a powerful indictment, denouncement and expose of the trial by jury system. The frightened, teenaged defendant is on trial, as well as the jury and the American judicial system with its purported sense of infallibility, fairness and lack of bias. Show dates are Jan. 9-19.
First presented on television in 1954, Reginald Rose's drama is best known from the 1957 film starring Henry Fonda as the dissenting juror in a murder trial who insists on deliberating despite what appears to be overwhelming evidence for a guilty verdict. The stage version has long been a crowd-pleaser, taking its place with "Inherit the Wind" in a category of drama that turns civics into gripping entertainment.
Director Bob Robinson (with assistant direction by Linda Widener) has assembled a cast of veteran and new stage performers. The jurors include: Charles Sartorius, Justin Banks, Michael Hays, Todd Heywood, Erik Grill, Mark Polzin, Alex Freeman, Jeff Magnuson, John Liskey, James Houska, Leo Poroshin and Gary Mitchell.
Note: City Pulse Rave Review:
http://npaper-wehaa.com/citypulse#2014/01/15/?article=2124583
Dates: January 9-12 and 16-19, 2014.
Times: Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
Ticket Prices: $14 regular price, $12 for seniors 55+ or students
Location: Riverwalk Theatre, 228 Museum Drive, Lansing, MI 48933.
Call 517-482-5700 or visit the website at http://www.riverwalk.com
