TWELVE ANGRY MEN

"It now becomes your duty to try and separate the facts from the fancy." 

- Judge, Twelve Angry Men

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Weighing in at a featherlight 65 pages, Reginald Rose's classic courtroom drama is a powerful cross-examination of our judicial system and the American melting pot. On "a very hot afternoon," twelve men must decide the fate of a much younger man accused of first degree murder. In the deliberation room, the verdict count is 11-1 guilty. Juror Eight is the sole holdout.

At first look, the case as presented to the jurors (and us the readers) appears solved. But Juror Eight's simple questions begin to peel back what may be some serious facades, both in the key witness testimonies as well as the hearts and minds of the men in the deliberation room— the men tasked by the Judge with "separat[ing] facts from fancy." 

Simple. Probing. Disturbing. Redemptive. This play is a window into the best and worst of us humans—our ability to assess objectively or prejudicially. It's as relevant today as the teleplay first aired in 1954. [JG]

​ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Reginald Rose (1920 - 2002) was born and raised in Manhattan. He enlisted in 1943  after Pearl Harbor and served in the Pacific until 1946.

In 1954, Rose received a jury duty summons to a manslaughter case. The jurors took eight hours of heated argument to ultimately deliver the unanimous verdict; Rose, a writer since his teen years, thought the scenario would make an excellent television play. 

Rose also wrote a story titled The Incredible World of Horace Ford, which was adapted as an episode of The Twilight Zone in 1963. 

"We have a verdict." 

- Foreman, Twelve Angry Men

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