Review: 12 INCOMPETENT JURORS at Fargo Shanley

Fargo Shanley Theatre Presents: 12 Incompetent Jurors

I think most people have heard the story of 12 Angry Men which was originally broadcast as a television play in 1954. It was adapted for stage a year later and got the Hollywood touch in 1957.

Well... This definitely ain't that. 12 Incompetent Jurors is a comedy spoof of 12 Angry Written Men written by Ian McWethy. This show originally premiered in 2010 at the New York International Fringe Festival. This tells the story of the 12 jurors assigned to a case of a man accused of abducting a half dozen cats. According to the judge and in his "unbiased" opinion this is an open and shut case. They have eye witnesses, video evidence and the defendant even admits it on the stand.

Pretty simple huh? Not for these 12 jurors. This is a fun One Act show that is family friendly and very entertaining. With a simple set consisting of a table, chairs and a water cooler we get to watch as one lone juror, a wanna be lawyer played wonderfully by Samuel Swenson, try to convince the rest of the jurors of what he considers "reasonable doubt". He goes so far as to almost accuse George Lucas himself and maybe even a dinosaur. The whole time the only seemingly sane juror, played by Rebecca Koerner, try to keep it together so everyone can just go home.

We get to see such a wonderful cast of characters throughout the 1 hour and 10 minute production. There is a couple that never seems to agree and continually fighting, but also ready to defend each other when needed (Matthew Swenson and Sophia Welsand). A Hollywood PR guy who loves to brag about his famous clients, who he can't actually name (William Wadsworth). A very interesting juror with a love of french fries (Lily Roshau). A jury foreman who doesn't really seem to be running anything and is an aspiring actress (Emma Grothmann). A very nervous juror who always seemed like she might be getting sick (Halle Balluff). A snotty teen with an attitude and a love of her cell phone (Ellie Craft). A juror sporting a fanny pack that had a very strange infatuation with the head prosecutor (Mark Noah). A very mean and pushy lady with a short temper (Katie Noah). Lastly a juror that seemed to have a hard time understanding English and only seemed to care about smoking (Giovanni Nasello).

As you can imaging putting all of these characters in a room together leads to some very hysterical moments. This is a fun show that I do not believe has been done in the F-M Area before so do yourself a favor and go check it out. Congrats to director Patrick Kasper, Producer & Technical Director Sandy Thiel and Stage Manager Katherine Appel on putting together a very fun show. Congrats to all 12 cast members on helping to tell this hilarious story.