Performance Venue: THE SUFFOLK 118 East Main Street, Riverhead NY 11901
Book : Reginald Rose Director: Joe Minutillo
The Suffolk Performing Arts Alliance is seeking both AEA & non-union performers for 12 Angry Men. We are seeking a cast of all men to play all principal and supporting roles (breakdown below.)
SYNOPSIS: A 19-year-old man has just stood trial for the fatal stabbing of his father. He doesn't stand a chance, mutters the guard as the 12 jurors are taken into the bleak jury room. It looks like an open-and-shut case—until one of the jurors begins opening the others' eyes to the facts. Each juror revealing his or her own character as the various testimonies are re-examined, the murder is re-enacted and a new murder threat is born before their eyes! Tempers get short, arguments grow heated, and the jurors become 12 angry men. The jurors' final verdict and how they reach it add up to a fine, mature piece of dramatic literature.
***Audition Venue: The Hotel Indigo 1830 West Main Street Route 25 Riverhead NY
DATES FEBRUARY 5 & 6
TIMES: 4pm - 8pm
IMPORTANT DATES
1st Rehearsal: March 3rd
Tech: March 22-25
Shows: March 26-30
26-28: day time performances 9:30AM
28-29: evening performances 8:00PM
30: matinee performance 2:00PM
Please bring any and all conflicts to the auditions and note that the rehearsal times may vary. You must be available for all shows and tech week to audition.
Please prepare a comic or dramatic monologue (dramatic preferred).
CONTRACT
AEA actors - Pension/health (AEA Guest Contract)
Non-union - Paid
The theater anticipates having 3-4 total AEA contracts available for this production.
Please note: there is NO housing for this production. Theater is located at 118 East Main Street Riverhead NY 11901
Casting Breakdown:
Juror 1 (Foreman)
He is the leader of the jurors who facilitates the process of voting and discussion. He enjoys his own authority. The Foreman believes in the guilt of the accused for a majority of the play. He is not particularly intelligent or actively involved in the debate, but he is focused and does not change his opinion lightly. He has an air of authority above the rest of the Jurors. He generally does not speak unless a tense conflict arises between the Jurors. He wants the trial to be as fair and efficient as possible.
Juror 2
He is an indecisive man and timid man whose opinion is easily swayed by Eight and by Four . As the play goes on and he adjusts to the setting he is able to speak up and he changes his guilty vote to not guilty based on the calm and persuasive conduct of Eight and the angry conduct of Three.
Juror 3
He is a strong and close-minded, loud-mouthed, prejudiced man. He tries to force his opinions upon others. From the start he is utterly convinced the suspect is guilty. . Three is the final holdout in claiming the accused is guilty at the end of the play. His strong belief in the guilt of the youth seems to stem from his personal situation, his prejudices, and the painful rift between himself and his son (which causes him to judge all youth negatively).
Juror 4
He is solely interested in the facts of the case. A self-confident man who is clearly used to being listened to, Four is identified by marks of wealth and intelligence. At times he can make offensive generalizations without recognizing the emotions of others. He is a strong supporter of the guilt of the accused until nearly the end of the play, he is more rational and level headed than most of the other jurors. He is the only one to present successful counter-arguments to the persuasive observations of Eight.
Juror 5
He is a young man who is intimidated easily by the strong personalities of the Jury. His youth shows in his timid nature. He quickly desires to vote not guilty, but only has the courage to do so when following Eight and Nine’s lead. He cowers under Three’s anger at him. Five grew up very poor, and he is sympathetic with the low economic background of the accused.
Juror 6
He is an average man who is honest, yet unremarkable. He is an unsure man who participates more as the play goes on. His self-confidence is relatively low. He changes his vote from guilty to not guilty, but he does not exhibit the prejudices, flair, or loud-opinions of the other jurors. One of the quietest of the jurors but is carefully watching and listening.
Juror 7
He is a conceited, ridiculous, cowardly and ethnocentric (especially with Juror 11) man whose “guilty” vote seems to rest more on indifference than prejudice. Seven is the juror who continuously expresses a desire to wrap up the process quickly and leave. He is loud and extravagant, and he clearly is not invested in the judicial process or his judicial responsibility. He prefers to get distracted by such things as bullying Eleven for opening the window.
Juror 8
He is the central character and protagonist of the play. He is courageous, compassionate, calm, and respects the opinions of others. Eight is the only juror to initially vote “not guilty.” This vote, which prevents an immediate unanimous guilty decision, and his insistence that the jurors commit time and effort to deciding the fate of the accused, power the events of the play. Through his calm and clever discussion of the case, all the other jurors are eventually convinced of the same reasonable doubt of the accused’s guilt. He is also a charismatic speaker. He appears to have had some plan to defend the accused in the jury room as he brings a matching switch knife as his own evidence. Eight’s self-confidence in standing alone and his sympathy for the accused present a direct contrast to
Three’s pigheadedness and prejudice.
Juror 9
He is an elderly, good-natured man who wants justice. Nine is compassionate and thoughtful, unlike many of the other jurors. He is the first to change his “guilty” vote to “not guilty” during the secret ballot vote. He does so primarily because he respects Eight’s courage in standing alone and wants to have the chance to see the case fully discussed.
Juror 10
He is the most prejudiced and cruel character in the play and he loses his temper easily and is a jerk. Ten is driven by a deep-seated “us versus them” complex concerning rich and poor. He speaks of the accused and people like him, from poor backgrounds, as “one of them.” He believes that none of “them” are trustworthy or good people. His bitterness and anger toward “them” spills over repeatedly in the play. At the end of the play, the other jurors move toward the window to express their disagreement with his cruelty by refusing to listen to him.
Juror 11
He is an immigrant from somewhere in Europe. He has a lot of patriotism for America. He has a strong moral character as well. Although he does not speak much, he clearly defines himself. Eleven exhibits an awareness of, and awe for, the idealistic principles behind the American legal system. He changes his “guilty” vote quickly, after defending the right of any man to have an unpopular opinion in America following the secret ballot vote. Initially, he seems reluctant to distinguish himself from the others, perhaps fearing the very attacks that follow. He experiences the cruel treatment of some of the other jurors early in the play when he attempts to close the window.
Juror 12
He is a man who is defined by his job in advertising, Twelve is shallow and a snob. He maintains his vote of “guilty” more out of the comfort of maintaining his opinion than any other reason, it seems. He believes the jurors should acknowledge that they’re a hung jury and should let the case go to another trial.
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