The air in the Gateway auditorium is bitter cold as Bucks student actors hurriedly flip through scene pages they’ve just been given; warming themselves up and becoming familiar with every character, not quite sure who they’ll be auditioning to play.
“They say the heat is on,” play director Shelli Pentimall-Bookler reassures.
She could’ve fooled me as I sit in the very back, shivering and observing the students’ eyes filled with wonder, always scanning their lines.
There are over twenty cast hopefuls littered about the auditorium on the second day of auditions. This is a much better turnout than the first audition date, I’m told.
“I was getting a little nervous,” Pentimall-Bookler mentions as the hopefuls filter in. With only about nine or so actors on the first date, the director was questioning how easy it would be to fill the thirteen-person cast.
Shelli Pentimall-Bookler is no stranger to theatre. In addition to being a director, she is also a playwright and actress while teaching at Bucks’
She laughs, emoting brightly as actors customarily do, “Sometimes I forget which job I’m doing!”
This will be the fourth show she’s run at BCCC. Last year, she directed an original play dealing with tough subject matter including substance abuse and addiction.
This year she’s taken a slightly softer approach by selecting the Sherman L. Sergel adaption of Reginald Rose’s 1954 teleplay, “12 Angry Men.” However, the show receives the name change “12 Angry Jurors” to be more gender inclusive.
The play revolves around a group of jury members given the task of deciding whether or not a young man is guilty of murder. Tension builds as each juror has their own unique opinion on the fate of the boy.
“I’m very interested in the justice system and the flaws within it,” says Pentimall-Bookler. “I want to highlight the social issues. There are people on death row that are innocent.”
The director also mentions, “I want the audience to challenge themselves. I want them to be self-aware of their prejudices towards others and start giving people the benefit of the doubt.”
“Shut up, you son of a bitch!” bellows out several times, the actors often shouting the line in a Christian Bale Batman-esque raspy growl while the actresses let their voices shriek and break under the weight of the scream.
The director is not looking for her idea of what the character should be portrayed by any of the cast hopefuls, “the actor is more of the expert on their own character.” She smirks almost tensely when voicing that she allows that liberty to actors.
“The director has a lot going on with controlling every element and detail of the show,” Pentimall-Bookler says. “The actor has to only know their job which is the character. So they know that person best.”
Pentimall-Bookler sticks to a list of C’s that she looks for when observing the auditions. “I want to see creativity, character choices, comfort on stage, and a connection between the other actors, chemistry, and cohesion.”
The end of the auditions brings on individual monologues for each actor. Some really shine on stage, making a deep connection with the on looking actors awaiting their turn.
Actors have an interesting body language. When in character they purvey that person’s mannerisms, they’ll be stiff and rigid if the scene is tense. So by the end of the monologue, the actors will pop back into their own bodies, often skipping off the stage to their seats, beaming with pride.
And after all the scenes have been run through and all the monologues have been recited, the stage looks like a warzone. Folding chairs are scattered across the stage, some flipped to their side in the heat of the moment.
Shelli Pentimall-Bookler addresses the hopefuls, positively reinforcing their good performances and letting everyone know what a tough decision it will be to select only thirteen of them. She thanks them for coming and says the results will be posted over the weekend.
A pack of actors right after auditioning is a sight to see. They’re all smiling and laughing with one another, sometimes talking about how each other did, sometimes avoiding the topic altogether.
The actresses’ hair is frazzled and the actors’ hair tossed about from the fury of the scenes, but despite all the aggression on stage they’re bonded together by the special camaraderie of theatre and perhaps by the mutual hope of getting selected to perform.
“12 Angry Jurors” will open the Arts at Bucks week with shows on April 26th, 27th, and 28th at 8:00 p.m. in the auditorium.
If anyone is interested in assisting with crew work for the play, (lighting, sound, set building, etc.) contact Shelli Pentimall-Bookler at [email protected].