Prejudice Obscures the Truth...
Bryan College's production of Twelve Angry Jurors brought up many new opportunities, such as acting in an arena space for the first time, working with new actors, and exploring new methods of line memorization. This play had many challenges that pushed our cast to new lengths, resulting in a highly successful six-performance run. A lesson I found particularly challenging to learn while playing the 8th Juror was how to stay in character for a full production with no breaks between scenes other than an intermission between the two acts. This was something each actor had to learn, and this skill eventually nourished the intensity needed to keep the audience locked into the show and the story it told.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Some unexpected obstacles during the rehearsal process made everyone in the cast and crew work more closely together to bring the show to the quality level at which it needed to be. Upon losing a week of rehearsals due to a sudden snowfall that shut down the school, the cast met up via a virtual call to run lines. The director Alexis Marsh also compensated for the loss of rehearsal time by adding an impromptu speedthru and by encouraging the actors to help one another with lines outside of rehearsal. By working with one another even more often by originally planned, the cast formed a strong bond that boosted confidence and made launching the show much easier.
Credits: Martina Ferguson