“Twelve Angry Men,” A Top-Rated Courtroom Drama Gets a Noteworthy Replay by Prime Stage Theater

 

In my mind, courtroom and legal dramas fit rather loosely as a subset of the whodunit genre. But, instead of trying to figure out whodunit, the main objective of the narrative is often trying to determine if the accused is innocent or guilty of a certain crime.

Now getting a live stage production at the New Hazlett Theater on Pittsburgh’s North Side, the film version of “Twelve Angry Men” often ranks as the number one courtroom drama of all time, although fans of “To Kill a Mockingbird” may disagree.

Not only did the film version get an Academy Award nomination for Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay when it made its silver screen debut in 1957, but the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), ranks it as number one on its courtroom drama list.

The screenplay works equally well as a stage play, especially when placed in the hands of a talented director and a dozen accomplished actors. Prime Stage’s production has both.

          In comedy, timing is a crucial element. The same holds true for “Twelve Angry Men,” where a jury is asked to deliberate the verdict in a capital crime in which an 18-year-old boy is accused of stabbing his own father to death.

All twelve men volley the ball back and forth in a perfectly timed rhythm as they voice their convictions about trial they just witnessed. Director Shane Valenzi, an actual trial lawyer by trade with a solid resume in theater direction, seems to have concentrated not only in getting the dialogue to flow smoothly and seamlessly, but also in giving his actors a movement dynamic that has them do more, much more, than sit around the large wooden conference table that makes up the major part of Alex Barnhart’s sparse, yet functional set.

The actors are up and about quite a bit, roasting in the heat of a summer day, some rankling with resentment about their fate of sitting as a juror, others resolute in trying to fairly administer justice.

The play opens when the twelve jurors are let into the deliberation room by a guard (Marc LaSpada) just after the conclusion of the trail. Expecting to find a quick guilty verdict, based on the evidence they just heard, the jurors have every reason to believe they’ll be home within hours. Standing peering out of a window a man apart, juror number 8 (Everett Lowe), however, is having second thoughts.

Those expecting an early release from their civic duties grow disgruntled as the one holdout questions whether the suspect can be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. As he reexamines the evidence, he begins to sway the minds of several others, much to the dismay of the diehards voting for a guilty verdict.

As the jury hashes over the details of the evidence, the audience becomes active participants in the narrative trying to determine in their own minds the questions of reasonable doubt as to the boy’s guilt or innocence. Juror Number 8’s major antagonist, the one who he almost comes to blows with halfway through the deliberation, is juror number 3, played with passionate conviction by Johnny Patalano.

While the play is a real ensemble piece with all the actors contributing to the narrative, Lowe and Patalano are the key players. This is not to downplay the quality of the remaining actors, but with such a rapid shot dialogue spoken by actors identified only as numbers rather than names, it is difficult to single them out for their special moments in the drama. The list of the ten remaining actors includes Paul Anderson, John Dolphin, Marc Duchin, Jason X Fernandez, David Nackman, Matthew J. Rush, Mark Spondike, Keith Zagorski, Sam Lander and Luke Hancock.

While the setting may date back to the 1950s of the McCarthy era, the play hits home with issues that have relevance to today’s world. And what an entertaining way “Twelve Angry Men” affords to explore questions of jurisprudence. Constitutional rights and due process of the law.

“Twelve Angry Men,” a production of Prime Stage Theater, is at the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square, on Pittsburgh’s North Side, through May 11. For tickets and more information, go to www.primestage.com.