12 Angry Jurors
at Laguna Hills High School

Reviewed on November 4, 2016

Justine Sombilon
La Habra
Submitted for publication to OC Varsity Arts

Laguna Hills Has Reached a Verdict

Justice is like the belief in Santa Clause: comforting to believe in as a child, but is soon clouded by one's own prejudices and harsh experiences in the real world.

The belief in justice is tested in Laguna Hills High School's intense legal thriller, Twelve Angry Jurors. The production is filled to the rim with passionate outbursts of vocal emotion and controlled movements across the stage.

Twelve men and women from all walks of life are assembled in a hot, cramped office room with one task: to reach a unanimous decision on whether a nineteen-year-old boy did or did not stab and kill his father. As each piece of evidence is reanalyzed, suspicions of the boy's innocence, and the possibility of reasonable doubt within the seemingly solid case, surface, gradually tearing the eleven-to-one majority apart.

Juror #8 is intelligently played by Eli Buckels. While he bravely stands alone in favor of the boy's innocence, the crisp professionalism and steadiness in his voice soon melts away to reveal a vulnerable urgency to convince his fellow jurors of the "reasonable doubt" within the case. His admirable desperation is leveled out by his smug demeanor, making him the perfect personification of logic: arrogant but fair.

If Juror #8 is driven by his instinct that something doesn't fit, then bitter Juror #3 is driven by her unbridled belief that everything fits perfectly. Although her lines drip with sarcasm and superiority and her confident movements command the stage, Jess Nelson also has the ability to show her character's hidden weaknesses, whether it be through one of her raging monologues or through her quieter recollections of her life's tragedies.

Kayle Stark, who plays Juror #10, is the person everyone loves to hate. With her nose turned up and her condescendingly strong voice ringing through the air, Stark's last monologue on the inferiority of "them" is both emotionally draining and despicable.

The set, skillfully designed by the LHHS Stagecraft class, features black risers for the audience to sit in, providing them a very up-close-and-personal view into the jury's deliberations. The little space between the actors and audience closes the gap between reality and theater, heightening the production to that of a real-life experience.

Stimulating and gripping from beginning to end, Twelve Angry Jurors proves that while the belief in justice can dissolve over time, equality and fairness will always trump prejudice.

Justine Sombilon
La Habra
Submitted for publication to OC Varsity Arts

Laguna Hills Has Reached a Verdict

Justice is like the belief in Santa Clause: comforting to believe in as a child, but is soon clouded by one's own prejudices and harsh experiences in the real world.

The belief in justice is tested in Laguna Hills High School's intense legal thriller, Twelve Angry Jurors. The production is filled to the rim with passionate outbursts of vocal emotion and controlled movements across the stage.

Twelve men and women from all walks of life are assembled in a hot, cramped office room with one task: to reach a unanimous decision on whether a nineteen-year-old boy did or did not stab and kill his father. As each piece of evidence is reanalyzed, suspicions of the boy's innocence, and the possibility of reasonable doubt within the seemingly solid case, surface, gradually tearing the eleven-to-one majority apart.

Juror #8 is intelligently played by Eli Buckels. While he bravely stands alone in favor of the boy's innocence, the crisp professionalism and steadiness in his voice soon melts away to reveal a vulnerable urgency to convince his fellow jurors of the "reasonable doubt" within the case. His admirable desperation is leveled out by his smug demeanor, making him the perfect personification of logic: arrogant but fair.

If Juror #8 is driven by his instinct that something doesn't fit, then bitter Juror #3 is driven by her unbridled belief that everything fits perfectly. Although her lines drip with sarcasm and superiority and her confident movements command the stage, Jess Nelson also has the ability to show her character's hidden weaknesses, whether it be through one of her raging monologues or through her quieter recollections of her life's tragedies.

Kayle Stark, who plays Juror #10, is the person everyone loves to hate. With her nose turned up and her condescendingly strong voice ringing through the air, Stark's last monologue on the inferiority of "them" is both emotionally draining and despicable.

The set, skillfully designed by the LHHS Stagecraft class, features black risers for the audience to sit in, providing them a very up-close-and-personal view into the jury's deliberations. The little space between the actors and audience closes the gap between reality and theater, heightening the production to that of a real-life experience.

Stimulating and gripping from beginning to end, Twelve Angry Jurors proves that while the belief in justice can dissolve over time, equality and fairness will always trump prejudice.

Andrew Estrada
Mater Dei High School
Submitted for publication to OC Varsity Arts

Laguna Hills' "12 Angry Jurors" Is Guilty of a Great Show
by Andrew Estrada, a junior, Mater Dei High School.
for OC Varsity Arts

Laguna Hills High School brings its production of "12 Angry Jurors" to life, setting the stage in an office building in New York City, 1954. Twelve jurors pack themselves tight in a room, all hot and flustered in the midst of a New York summer. There to decide the fate of a boy who has been charged with killing his father, they argue back and forth over the points of guilty or not guilty.

Jess Nelson, portraying Juror #3, delves deep into her character as she brings forth so much emotion and presence on the stage. Nelson's dynamics of her inflections and actions help to make her quiet moments just as intense as her bold outbursts. She builds a character arc where she has so much confidence in the beginning, but gradually begins losing this assuredness in her beliefs and herself as the story goes on—losing all security and is simply left vulnerable by the close of the play.

Juror #3's very own enemy within the story is Juror #8, played by Eli Buckels—both acting as the two leaders of the sides of guilty and not guilty. Buckels takes his character and makes it his own, adding in mannerisms of constantly wiping his neck with a handkerchief, but also by giving him a levelheaded disposition that utterly foiled Juror #8's volatile temperament in her fits and tantrums.

Maria Braceros and Luke Morris bring the true commotion of New York to the stage, the sounds of the hustle and bustle of the city filling the room. This classic New York City clamor is what uplifts the level of realism and adds to the rush and tense feel of the play.

The set, a self-built black box, gives an interesting perspective looking in on the story. Belle Hein, Kaylee Shobe, and Jasmine Lamas are among those who cleverly fabricated the set to create an intimate setting for the both audience and the actors, putting the viewers in a "fly-on-the-wall" point of view, almost as if they are jurors themselves.

Every character brings something different to the story itself—their varying personalities and beliefs all clashing with each other. But as the story comes to a close, they come together to work toward true justice, sadly, a timely lesson to the world today.

Andrew Estrada
Mater Dei High School
Submitted for publication to OC Varsity Arts

Laguna Hills' "12 Angry Jurors" Is Guilty of a Great Show
by Andrew Estrada, a junior, Mater Dei High School.
for OC Varsity Arts

Laguna Hills High School brings its production of "12 Angry Jurors" to life, setting the stage in an office building in New York City, 1954. Twelve jurors pack themselves tight in a room, all hot and flustered in the midst of a New York summer. There to decide the fate of a boy who has been charged with killing his father, they argue back and forth over the points of guilty or not guilty.

Jess Nelson, portraying Juror #3, delves deep into her character as she brings forth so much emotion and presence on the stage. Nelson's dynamics of her inflections and actions help to make her quiet moments just as intense as her bold outbursts. She builds a character arc where she has so much confidence in the beginning, but gradually begins losing this assuredness in her beliefs and herself as the story goes on—losing all security and is simply left vulnerable by the close of the play.

Juror #3's very own enemy within the story is Juror #8, played by Eli Buckels—both acting as the two leaders of the sides of guilty and not guilty. Buckels takes his character and makes it his own, adding in mannerisms of constantly wiping his neck with a handkerchief, but also by giving him a levelheaded disposition that utterly foiled Juror #8's volatile temperament in her fits and tantrums.

Maria Braceros and Luke Morris bring the true commotion of New York to the stage, the sounds of the hustle and bustle of the city filling the room. This classic New York City clamor is what uplifts the level of realism and adds to the rush and tense feel of the play.

The set, a self-built black box, gives an interesting perspective looking in on the story. Belle Hein, Kaylee Shobe, and Jasmine Lamas are among those who cleverly fabricated the set to create an intimate setting for the both audience and the actors, putting the viewers in a "fly-on-the-wall" point of view, almost as if they are jurors themselves.

Every character brings something different to the story itself—their varying personalities and beliefs all clashing with each other. But as the story comes to a close, they come together to work toward true justice, sadly, a timely lesson to the world today.

Katherine Schloss
La Habra
Submitted for publication to OC Cappies Facebook Page

Justice is Served at Laguna Hills
Katherine Schloss, a senior, La Habra High School
for OC Varsity Arts

"12 Angry Jurors", adapted by Sherman L. Sergel, is based in a heated jury room full of desperation where seeds of doubt are sown in a murder case.

The 12 jurors are a strong unit, displaying vulnerability while engaging fully in each moment. As the situation becomes more dire, each actor adopts a physical "tick" to release stress, but they are still united by common actions such as going to the window for air.

Eli Buckels is level-headed yet passionate as Juror #8. He gains strength throughout the play, gesticulating purposefully and wiping more and more sweat from the back of his neck as he moves the minds of the others. One stand-out moment is when he comes to a breaking point and his, "Doubt , doubt, doubt," accompanied by pounding on the table, is palpable.

Jess Nelson-Juror #3- starts out sarcastic and biting, strutting about the room and staring intensely into the other jurors' faces. As she becomes more desperate and is faced with opposition, she becomes crazed, cornered, and wild, fingers at her lips and eyes wide.

Kayle Stark, Juror #10, represents the snooty elite with her straight-backed posture and glaring pout. Little habits, such as picking her nails or playing with her pen, create a nonchalant air that is broken when she explodes with prejudiced, scathing remarks. She is raw and becomes primal, voice breaking and limbs shaking, when the other jurors turn their back on her.

Julia Zbojna, the Polish Juror #11, is soft in voice but strong in demeanor as she gracefully and evenly chronicles the tale of being an immigrant while holding her cigarette with composure.

The simple black box stage, built by the LHHS Stagecraft Class, gives the audience an intimate view and throws them into the case. The hair and makeup committee also highlights social class, personality, and age with both stern and pleasant facial lines and gray hair or plaited up-dos. These unique looks differentiate the jurors and add detail that pops against the neutral background.

The actors show the pressure placed on people to conform as they stand in an intense circle around Juror #3 and, in one powerful moment, convince her to switch her vote. In this situation, majority rules. The entire LHHS Theater Program shines as they deliver a riveting and powerful version of this famous struggle for justice in 1950s America.

Katherine Schloss
La Habra
Submitted for publication to OC Cappies Facebook Page

Justice is Served at Laguna Hills
Katherine Schloss, a senior, La Habra High School
for OC Varsity Arts

"12 Angry Jurors", adapted by Sherman L. Sergel, is based in a heated jury room full of desperation where seeds of doubt are sown in a murder case.

The 12 jurors are a strong unit, displaying vulnerability while engaging fully in each moment. As the situation becomes more dire, each actor adopts a physical "tick" to release stress, but they are still united by common actions such as going to the window for air.

Eli Buckels is level-headed yet passionate as Juror #8. He gains strength throughout the play, gesticulating purposefully and wiping more and more sweat from the back of his neck as he moves the minds of the others. One stand-out moment is when he comes to a breaking point and his, "Doubt , doubt, doubt," accompanied by pounding on the table, is palpable.

Jess Nelson-Juror #3- starts out sarcastic and biting, strutting about the room and staring intensely into the other jurors' faces. As she becomes more desperate and is faced with opposition, she becomes crazed, cornered, and wild, fingers at her lips and eyes wide.

Kayle Stark, Juror #10, represents the snooty elite with her straight-backed posture and glaring pout. Little habits, such as picking her nails or playing with her pen, create a nonchalant air that is broken when she explodes with prejudiced, scathing remarks. She is raw and becomes primal, voice breaking and limbs shaking, when the other jurors turn their back on her.

Julia Zbojna, the Polish Juror #11, is soft in voice but strong in demeanor as she gracefully and evenly chronicles the tale of being an immigrant while holding her cigarette with composure.

The simple black box stage, built by the LHHS Stagecraft Class, gives the audience an intimate view and throws them into the case. The hair and makeup committee also highlights social class, personality, and age with both stern and pleasant facial lines and gray hair or plaited up-dos. These unique looks differentiate the jurors and add detail that pops against the neutral background.

The actors show the pressure placed on people to conform as they stand in an intense circle around Juror #3 and, in one powerful moment, convince her to switch her vote. In this situation, majority rules. The entire LHHS Theater Program shines as they deliver a riveting and powerful version of this famous struggle for justice in 1950s America.