This year at Downingtown East the fall play was “12 Angry Jurors.” The play was about 12
jurors who have to decided on the fate of a young person who is accused of murder. The play
takes place with the jurors back in the jury room deliberating on all of the evidence that was
provided. Things come up about the imperfect nature of evidence that was presented. Through
the conversations of the jurors you realize some prejudices that people have against the accused.
Mr. McGraw is the director of the play. He chose the play because it is in the curriculum. This
story is taught to seniors, mainly because it is such an excellent story. It is a great exercise to
give the actors a strong opportunity to sink their teeth into a role that can be really worthwhile to
them. As the director, Mr. McGraw helps lead and direct the play to success, but mainly he
worries, “I worry about the staging of the actors, making sure the actors get their lines down, the
design of the set, the ticket sales, and how the audience will like the production.”

The process of putting together 12 Angry Jurors was pretty fast. They held auditions in June at
the end of last school year. There were only 11 people who auditioned so at the beginning of this
school year they had to find one more juror. Luckily, one of the past actors who’s been with the
theater for awhile, Ally Aceto (12), came and joined the cast. After that road bump was settled,
the cast was very solid. The rest of the process went by very smoothly and fast. This fall play
was on the higher end of cast size.

Each of the cast members say that they all connect. “I feel like everyone got along really well,
and everyone is great and a lot of fun to work with,” said Jack Dungan (10). Jack said he’s
learned a lot about going with the flow from theater, because if someone misses a line, you need
to be ready to help get the show back on track. Jack played juror #10, a very prejudiced person
who lets his bias get in the way of his voting. Ryan Gill (12) played Juror #3, a crabby man, a
bully and an abusive father. “My favorite part about theater is the community. I love working
together to achieve a common goal and building friendships along the way,” said Ryan. He has
connected with Mr. Brown the most. Ryan works with him regularly as theater board president.