Every fall, the Fine Arts Department puts on a fall play and this year was no exception with the production 12 Angry Jurors.

The play is a blend of two complementary plays, 12 Angry Men, written by Reginald Rose and 12 Angry Women, written by Sherman L . Sergel. It was performed in the Zelle Black Box Theater Oct. 13-15.

The play is about 12 jurors deliberating a case, needing to determine if a boy killed his father. Throughout the play, Juror Eight tries to convince the other jurors that there is reasonable doubt. 

The play also has themes of how bias plays a role in decision-making. “It made me realize my biases and that it is okay to have feelings about people … by playing someone of a different background,” sophomore Kensie Waller, who played Juror Five, said.

Due to the play being full of arguments, playing these characters also had a mental toll on the actors.

“The other actors were my best friends, so having to portray that I was really mad at them and scream at them made me feel really bad because I didn’t want to be angry at the people I love,” Waller said.

Another element of the play is the sound, which was managed by sophomore Reese Bell.

“I was really interested by the idea of soundboard because I thought it would be an interesting job to do in the feature,” Bell said, “I like being behind the scenes. I think it’s really fun you get to do a lot of really cool stuff that I don’t think a lot of people get to do in high school normally, but I’m not a personal fan of being in front of everyone, so I really enjoy being behind the stage.”

The show was also the first time students were allowed to design the costumes. The responsibility of designing the costumes was given to senior Seidy Pichardo. She described her experience in the playbill.

“I wanted to take a deep dive into the origin of each character and their differing ideologies,” Pichardo said. “I began experimenting with color and character foils but in the end, the strongest symbolic choice was a palette of greyscale with the polar ends of black and white … characters who were confident wear black and white, while those who were more swayed to wear grey.”

The play was a bonding experience according to Bell, who said the actors and crew “had a lot of fun … just helping each other out.”

“I think I really grew during the play because I met a lot of people that I probably would not have met if I wasn’t in theater,” Bell said, “so it was a really good time.”