November 13, 2025- It may well have been the last time I work in Chino Valley High School, but everyone made it count. The Career Exploration students took up the bulk of the day, researching and applying concepts like job descriptions and the expectations that go into their creation. The Drama students were more involved with a production that they are staging, in a few days.

“Twelve Angry Jurors” is an updated version of “Twelve Angry Men”, a film that was done, in 1957 and again in 1997, and which graphically illustrates the intensity of jury deliberations, especially in ambiguous cases. It is more than just a mixed-gender version of the film. Being audience-facing, the play thus appeals to the sensibilities of those watching, as well as acting out the viewpoints of any given juror. There are other, more subtle differences, briefly discussed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q58Wxi20Frk&t=152s.

I haven’t attended nearly as many plays, over the years, as I might have liked. Small efforts, done in the round, have been my favourites among those I have experienced. A performance of “King Lear”, earlier this year is probably my favourite, if only because it stayed truest to the play as I remember having read it, in my senior year of high school. The themes of mistrust of a loving critic and the clouds of madness, followed by rage at being deceived are most cautionary. The human tendency to reward even the most transparent sycophancy also hits home.

The most appealing thing about live theater, though, is that the efforts of the performers-and of the stage crew may be seen close up. Human effort, at changing the scenery and moving about the room, even having to navigate the audience at times, also makes the play more intimate than even the most exhilarating IMAX presentation of a motion picture.

Movies can be fabulous, but for intimacy and connection, yet, “the play’s the thing”. Long may high school and college drama programs endure. Shakespeare may have used the term as a vehicle for Hamlet to trap his father’s killer, but it certainly sums up, in general, the appeal of the medium.