"Goddamn waste of time... and what about that business with the knife? I mean, asking grown up people to believe that kind of bullshit."

I've never been called for jury duty in my life. I think somebody already knows not to even bother sending a letter. After the last two months plus of rehearsing and performing 12 Angry Men as Juror 7, I feel like I've done my duty and then some for the judicial system. The play, which was made famous when Henry Fonda brought the story to the silver screen in the 1950s, involves a jury deliberating a murder case. A 16-year-old boy is accused of murdering his father, and eleven men on the jury are ready to send the boy to the electric chair. Only one (juror 8) believes that there are flaws in the prosecution's case.

"This better be fast. I've got tickets to a ball game tonight. Yankees-Cleveland. We got this new kid pitching. Modjelewski or whatever his name is. He's a bull, this kid. Shoooom. A real jug handle."

I won't say it was type casting, but being Juror 7 plays up to many of my strengths. 7 doesn't care one way or another about the verdict. He just wants to get out of there and go to the ball game. Simply put, he thinks he has better things to do. With quick cracks and jokes, he breaks up some of the staunchiness of the play. Being a lifetime baseball fan, it was not a stretch to play up my love for the game. Now, being a Yankees fan and talking in a New York accent? That required some acting on my part.

"Say, are you a salesman? Do you know what the soft sell is? You're pretty good at it, I'll tell ya. I gotta different technique. Jokes. Drinks. Knock 'em on their asses. I made twenty-seven thousand last year selling marmalade. That's not bad, considering marmalade."

The more 8 gets into the head of the jurors, the less he and 7 get along. What starts out as a friendly gamesmanship gets more angry. In a bathroom scene, 7 tries to get 8 to switch to guilty to no avail. As a personal touch, I spit the gum I've been chewing throughout Act One into the sink where 8 is washing his hands. Add to that the fact that in our production Juror 8 is a black man (a quality actor named Brian Gamble), and it makes the whole moment that much more tense.

"Listen, this kid wouldn't stand a chance with another jury, and you know it. C'mon, we're hung. Nobody's going to change his opinion. Let's take it inside."

As the deliberation goes on into the second act, jurors begin to jump onto the Not Guilty bandwagon. The word 'reasonable doubt' creeps up in everybody's mind. The strength of 12 Angry Men comes from the script. It shows how opinions can be twisted and turned, but it also points out that the verdict has to be a unanimous decision. Not an easy task with twelve diverse and distinct characters.

"Look, Milwaukee, nobody around here's gonna tell me what words I understand and what words I don't. Especially him. Because I'll knock his goddamn middle European head off!"

Oh yeah, 7 doesn't like foreigners too much. Since 11 is a Americanized Frenchman, it leads me to go after him a couple times in Act Two. The first time, two other jurors stop me before I get to him. The second time, I have clean shot to knock his clock off, but a little self restraint goes a long way. It's still a special moment when I have a clenched shaking fist cocked and the angriest face you'd ever want to see.

"Listen, I'll tell you something. I'm a little sick of this whole thing already. All this yakking is getting us nowhere, so I'm going to break it up. I'm changing my vote to not guilty."

Out of exasperation, disgust for his fellow guilty voters, and the lingering fact that he might not make it to the ball game, 7 changes his vote. It still takes a little while and a lot of emotion for the rest of the guys to switch, but it finally happens. After a grueling and painful rehearsal process with a first time director, the actors finally got it right for the first time on opening Friday. Just in the nick of time. The result was astonishing. Across the board, audiences loved it. Standing ovations occurred since the first Sunday. It just goes to show that you don't know how it's going to go until it's going.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road."

Tonight, I get angry as Juror 7 for the final time. Full houses and appreciative audiences for eleven performances have vindicated the effort of the last two months. Maybe it wasn't a goddamn waste of time after all.

Chris Jungle will direct One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest to go up next May.