“Twelve Angry Men” Gets You Thinking

Saturday night we drove down to Alexandria to see “Twelve Angry Men” at the Aldersgate Community Theatre. It’s located inside the Aldersgate Methodist Church and my cousin Ron was one of the actors, his first performance as juror #12 in a community theater.
Written initially as a television play in 1954 by Reginald Rose, some folks might have seem the movie that came out in 1957 with Henry Fonda as the lone juror initially casting reasonable doubt and Lee J. Cobb as the protagonist.
It’s a storyline that get you thinking about group dynamics and how decisions in our society are made. How many people are capable of formulating their own opinion independently and how many of us are swayed by what we perceive others are thinking? I’ve heard the statement again and again when election time rolls around, “I want to vote for a winner.” And then there’s that other general remark, “I don’t want to rock the boat.”
When a man’s life is at stake, as it is in this play, the interaction between the jurors becomes intense.
If I’ve got you intrigued enough to want to see the play, which performed as a theater in the round with a cast the includes several former professional actors, it is playing until the end of October and you can go to www.acctonline.org to get more information and purchase tickets. There is even a special show this Thursday the 20th that includes dinner prior to the performance.