On May 7th, at the Hampton Bays High School parking lot, the play “12 Angry Jurors” was shown on a large screen broadcasting through the radio. “12 Angry Men” was changed to “12 Angry Jurors” due to the fact that the cast included both men and women whereas the film had an all-male cast.  

Family and friends watched the talented and creative cast on the screen. As you drive into the parking lot, security points to where you can park. Once you have parked your car, members of the cast walk around collecting a 10 dollar parking fee from each car. Then you tune the radio to the proper channel, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. The drive-in movie was shown on a large screen in front of the auditorium and all its equipment was rented out. The company it came from also ran the equipment. Mr. Loyd is the tech person for the plays and found the company that set up the equipment. 

According to Ms. Perez, rehearsals did not change that much.“The first few felt really weird. I think we were all a bit uncomfortable and not sure what we should and shouldn’t be doing.” Once the protocols like mask-wearing, social distancing, and hand-sanitizing before touching the props were established, “it eventually became the new normal, we were happy just to be able to be doing the show again.” 

The most difficult part of rehearsing, according to Ms. Perez, was the audio. One of the cast members was participating in the play via Google Meet and the meet always had to be open. “It was frustrating,” said Ms. Perez “It was difficult to hear and people missed their cues a lot. It’s much easier to rehearse when everyone is here in person.” Tara Lauther, a remote student and a cast member said “The cast was good at making me feel involved. It was nice to be home safe but still participating.”

The scene opens with the courtroom as all eleven jurors file into their designated seats. The jurors are conversing about the accused as they settle in. A young man is from a poor urban area and is on trial for first-degree murder for killing his father with a switch knife. The young man claims to have lost the knife.

The foreman (Alvero Mijangos) calls the group to order and all Jurors vote “guilty,” except for the Eighth Juror (Jessica Soledad), who votes “not guilty.” The jurors become angry for not agreeing with the rest of them. 

Everyone settles down as Juror Three (Katerina Reich) and Juror Four (Aidan Longueville) retrace the young man’s story and discuss the murder weapon. Juror Five (Tara Lauther) suddenly realizes that among the knife fights he has seen in his life in poor neighborhoods, switch knives are always handled underhanded and the wounds from the murder indicate it was overhand. All the evidence pointed out shows how the young man could not have murdered his father. This eventually convinces everyone except Jurors Three, Four, and Ten (Ella Stotsky), who refuse to change their minds. All jurors leave, except Jurors Three and Eight. Juror Eight says, “Not guilty” as Juror Three turns the knife and presents the handle to Eight, he says “Not guilty.” The end. 

Ms. Perez stated that “The overall experience was very different from what we are all used to; not having a performance weekend to get to work towards was a bit of a letdown in some ways. There is nothing like the excitement and energy of a live performance in front of an audience.” Hopefully, in the next school year, plays will go back to normal and in-person.