The Billie Holiday Theatre Presents Premiere Of Original Short Film 12 ANGRY MEN...AND WOMEN: THE WEIGHT OF THE WAIT

The Billie Holiday Theatre presents the premiere of the original theatrical film of its critically acclaimed work 12 Angry Men...and Women: The Weight of the Wait, filmed at Apple's Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California. Including select stories from the 2011 edition of the acclaimed 12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being a Black Man in America Today by The New Press and edited by Gregory S. Parks and Matthew W. Hughey, the film recounts narratives of racial profiling and unjust policing, as well as an original story that focuses on the killing of Breonna Taylor.

This powerful reimagining of 12 Angry Men...and Women: The Weight of the Wait will be available to stream for free exclusively on the Apple TV app starting Friday, March 26, through Thursday, April 22. Customers can also enjoy the composer's cut of the performance for free on Apple Podcasts during that time. 12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being a Black Man in America Today is available as an e-book on Apple Books at apple.co/12AngryMenBook.

This new adaptation of 12 Angry Men...and Women includes original cast members Lisa Arrindell, Billy Eugene Jones, Wendell Pierce, as well as the addition of Hubert Point-Du Jour, with a cappella group Kings Return, including Vaughn Faison, Gabe Kunda, J.E. McKissic, and Jamall Williams, and original music by Maritri Garrett and Daniel Bernard Roumain, who performs an original score. Tony Award winner Kenny Leon serves as part of the director's team on the film, and the stories written by Devon Carbado, Joshua Wiley, Solomon Moore, and Paul Butler, Jr. were theatrically arranged by Arthur Yorinks.

"Black Theater institutions have been the vanguards of stories rooted in equity and racial justice for centuries. The Billie Holiday Theatre's production of 12 Angry Men...And Women at the Steve Jobs Theater embodies the spirit of that legacy, while innovating on how this story is told," said Wendell Pierce, actor and Board Member, The Billie Holiday Theatre. "This is a necessary and timely work of art that centers around the systemic racial injustices in this country and our partnership with Apple makes it more widely accessible to audiences, sparking meaningful conversations that lead to change."

12 Angry Men...and Women, which The New York Times selected as a Critics' Pick and called "... a bold and vital response to an emergency in progress...", was the first Equity-approved pandemic theater production in New York City. The staged reading originally streamed live via YouTube from New York City's very first Black Lives Matter mural, its creation led by The Billie Holiday Theatre, with 159 names of men, women, and children killed by acts of racially motivated violence.