Speaking of "12 Angry Men" - that was my high school class play. I was in a speech class as an elective subject and you could get extra credit by participating in the play in some way. In my junior year, we did that play. I read for parts and got juror 10 (the bigot). I got to make rants about "those people who multiply like vermin, you know what I mean, can't trust them any farther than..." - at which point the banker (forget his number) steps in and tells me that he has had enough and to just shut UP. I also had some "business" about having a summer cold due to the recent rain.
We were a bunch of high-school kids but we put a lot of work into it and it paid off. The company that owned the rights would sell a package to high schools - fixed fee for the rights to use it for a three-night run. That covered copyrights and clerical overhead for them and it was a good deal for the schools because it was an educational benefit. (Good advertising for the copyright owners.) Our director, Mr. Summers, arranged for it all and got the required permissions from the school and the parents.
We put in three months of rehearsals. The Thursday night that was our opening night, we had about 500 people in the audience but that was enough in that it "paid the nut." (Slang for "covered the three-night rental fee" and implying that any other money we made, the school could keep.) Friday night was a 700+ audience and Saturday night we had an official head count of over 950 paid attendance. We were stoked because the school's auditorium was full all the way to the last row! It was AWESOME to see that from the stage. There is NOTHING so exhilarating as to see a "full house" for an audience. I learned that in high school and again as an organist with our little rock band that I was in during my college days.
The party afterwards was great, nobody got very drunk (well, maybe just a little...), and the school officials LOVED us. After all, we brought in revenue in an honest venture that portrayed the school's Fine Arts department in a good light and it was a peaceful, relatively cheap endeavor. As you pointed out, Jon, it is a minimalist story with a cast of 13 (12 jurors and a bailiff) and no music required. We needed a decent table, a few props, 12 chairs, and a door frame as the way in or out of the deliberation room. True minimalist.
By the way - as a play, "12 Angry Men" IS a one-room situation. The 1957 movie (directed by Sidney Lumet with actors Henry Fonda, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden, and several other notable character actors) included a couple of outdoor scenes where they gave their verdict in the courtroom and then went outside where the rain was dissipating. But that was added for the movie.
We were a bunch of high-school kids but we put a lot of work into it and it paid off. The company that owned the rights would sell a package to high schools - fixed fee for the rights to use it for a three-night run. That covered copyrights and clerical overhead for them and it was a good deal for the schools because it was an educational benefit. (Good advertising for the copyright owners.) Our director, Mr. Summers, arranged for it all and got the required permissions from the school and the parents.
We put in three months of rehearsals. The Thursday night that was our opening night, we had about 500 people in the audience but that was enough in that it "paid the nut." (Slang for "covered the three-night rental fee" and implying that any other money we made, the school could keep.) Friday night was a 700+ audience and Saturday night we had an official head count of over 950 paid attendance. We were stoked because the school's auditorium was full all the way to the last row! It was AWESOME to see that from the stage. There is NOTHING so exhilarating as to see a "full house" for an audience. I learned that in high school and again as an organist with our little rock band that I was in during my college days.
The party afterwards was great, nobody got very drunk (well, maybe just a little...), and the school officials LOVED us. After all, we brought in revenue in an honest venture that portrayed the school's Fine Arts department in a good light and it was a peaceful, relatively cheap endeavor. As you pointed out, Jon, it is a minimalist story with a cast of 13 (12 jurors and a bailiff) and no music required. We needed a decent table, a few props, 12 chairs, and a door frame as the way in or out of the deliberation room. True minimalist.
By the way - as a play, "12 Angry Men" IS a one-room situation. The 1957 movie (directed by Sidney Lumet with actors Henry Fonda, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden, and several other notable character actors) included a couple of outdoor scenes where they gave their verdict in the courtroom and then went outside where the rain was dissipating. But that was added for the movie.
