Director’s Note
In staging this quintessential piece of modern American drama, we started off with a core question – what does this play actually require in order to work? This staunch bastion of stage & screen, which many folks are exposed to incidentally, in some form or another, has both been overexposed and underexplored. Everything is taken for granted - The table represents an inherent faith that all those invited to deliberate will be treated fairly and equally in the eyes of the justice system; the chairs, in turn, allow participants to become passive observers in a machine of apathy rather than active agents. Neither of these guiding elements represent the story that needs to be told right now – the “surface area” of those benefited or made comfortable by the law has been whittled down to almost nothing, and every single person in the room has the power to stand and protect what they view is right. By taking a sedentary drama and putting it on its feet, the goal is to reflect the discontent that permeates virtually all modern political discourse, by way of “Protective Anger v. Persecutive Anger”. Through this contemporary lens, and by featuring a diverse cast (who have been instrumental in this production), we hope to breathe new life into some long-neglected narrative. -Aven Hagen Grote