BY ANNA HERKAMP
DANVILLE — Things may not be as they appear in this weekend’s DHS Players show.
The Players will perform “12 Angry Jurors,” by Reginald Rose, who also wrote the script for the ground-breaking movie“12 Angry Men.”
The story is about a young man accused of killing someone. Although the audience is never given a detailed description of the accused, the audience learns more about him through the perceptions of the jurors deciding his fate.
Each juror’s own background shapes their beliefs about the world, and thus their considerations of justice.
Lauren Hous, a senior, plays Juror No. 4, a pragmatic, clear-thinking juror who tries to get others to stick to the facts of the case.
“It’s about standing up for yourself and doing all you can to prove (your point of view) to the rest of the group,” she said of the play.
Each juror, said Lisa Richter, the sponsor for the DHS Players, has their own motivations for thinking a certain way about the guilt or innocence of the defendant.
Only pieces of information are given for any character. None have names.
Richter, a 1986 DHS alumna, is also a teacher at DHS and a former DHS Player.
Some jurors relate to the defendant because they’re also from the wrong end of town. One juror is friends with someone who let a criminal off when he was on a jury. Another dislikes teenagers.
“It is a good show,” she said, “because it has moments where each juror sees that maybe (he or she) wrong.”
Hous has been involved in theater all her life. She guesses this is her 15th or 20th production.
She’s a veteran of the Red Mask Children’s Theater program and has acted in every production at DHS since she was a freshman.
She says the drama is a nice change of pace.
Richter hopes to bring the theater department at DHS back to the strength it was when she was in school.
“I’m hoping we can … build it back up to where it was when I was in high school,” she said
This year, she’s taking the Players to contests and plans another production this spring.
The history and legacy of the program will be a great one to follow in the future, she said.
COMING UP
Performances for the Danville High School DHS Players’ production of “12 Angry Jurors” will take place at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the DHS auditorium, 202 E. Fairchild St., Danville, IL. Tickets are $5 and will be sold at the door.
