CONSTANCE BAY – Dreaming of a role in a courtroom drama? The Rural Root Theatre Company’s fall production, 12 Angry Men, will begin casting later this month.

Auditions for the production will be held on Sunday, June 23 and Wednesday, June 26 at the RRTC’s stage at the NorthWind Wireless Fibre Centre. Auditions will start at 7 p.m.

All are welcome, and women are invited to audition. 

The RRTC’s production will be directed by Ric O’Dell and auditions are open to men and women. The director will cast men and women at the company’s discretion and retitle the production 12 Angry Jurors.

The well-known drama depicts a jury forced to consider a homicide trial. At the beginning, they have a nearly unanimous decision of guilty, with a single dissenter of not-guilty, who throughout the play sows a seed of reasonable doubt.

The story begins after closing arguments have been presented in the homicide case, as the judge is giving his instructions to the jury.

As in most American criminal cases, the 12 men must unanimously decide on a verdict of guilty or not guilty. The case at hand pertains to whether a young man murdered his own father. The jury is further instructed that a guilty verdict will be accompanied by a mandatory death sentence. These 12 then move to the jury room, where they begin to become acquainted with the personalities of their peers.

Throughout their deliberation, not a single juror calls another by his name because the names are unknown to the jurors. Several of the jurors have different reasons for discriminating against the defendant: his race, his background, and the troubled relationship between one juror and his own son.