The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, A pril 9, 2010 - 5 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, April 9, 2010 - 5 '12' jurors take the stage tonight A stage adaptation of 'Twelve Angry Men' 0 keeps its made-for- the-screen feel By BRAD SANDERS DailyArts Writer Though the arduous experience of jury duty isn't something that many people want to experi- ence, Basement Arts's new play, Tonight at 7 "12," makes p.m. and 11 p.m., the experi- tomorrow ence actually a7 p.m. enjoyable. TheS director, LSA SDtudio Ore Waigreen drcoLA Drama Center senior Lincoln Free Boehm, adapt- ed it from the original teleplay "Twelve Angry Men"by Reginald Rosewith chang- es that allowed for a co-ed cast. The show follows 12 white jurors who must decide whether a black man is guilty of patricide. They immediately vote guilty, with the exception of one juror who con- vinces the others to think logically and put their prejudices aside. "Something that's really cool about this play, more. so than any other play, is that there is an immense transformation of each character from the first to last page," said Boehm, who is also an opinion columnist for the Daily. "When they first come into the juror's room they know nothing about each other, but they develop these unique relationships that are very telling about who they are." Each juror retains an air of ano- nymity as none are ever named - only numbered - throughout the production. Thomas Wolfson, a Music, Theatre & Dance senior who plays Juror 4, commented on his char- acter's contributions to the group dynamics. "I play a man who is less guided by his emotions and more by his intellect," Wolfson said. "It's sort of myfunctiontobethevoiceofreason in many circumstances, although I do believe the boy is guilty." Boehm has been passionate about this play since high school, when he picked it for a reportsimply because it was first alphabetically. "I sat down with it one night not really knowing what I was getting myself into, and then an hour and a half later my eyes were glued to the text," Boehm said. "I think it's a really captivating play and it's something that draws the audience in." Having worked in television, Boehm has done well in translat- ing what was originally a television production into a staged play. "I've worked for Conan O'Brien for the past two years, and have had experience working with directors in television," Boehm said. "The staging and everything in '12' has more of a producing-for-film-and- television feel to it than the stage. That's an exciting thing about showing it here, very few have seen 'Twelve Angry Men' produced onstage." According to Wolfson, the cast of "12" is composed of some of the most talented students in the Uni- versity's Performance BFA program including Joey Richter, a School of Music, Theatre, & Dance junior who performed in previous Base- ment Arts productions "Me and My Dick" and "A Very Potter Musical." "This is one of the most excel- lent casts I've seen assembled in the Basement Arts program. I think a lot of people will realize that - that super group of actors," Wolfson said. "There's a lot of actors in the cast that I've known for many years, so we can sort of all finish each oth- ers sentences and can predict each other's moves." "While the cast is upperclass- man-heavy, we do have freshmen and sophomores too," Boehm added. "It is a diverse cast, and they have made my job as a director that much easier. A lot of these people have put their egos aside to take smaller sup- porting roles, just because of the opportunity to work with everyone that is in this show." WhileStudio One ofthe Walgreen Drama Center may not always be the ideal set for multiple-setting plays, it has worked very well for "12." "As far as representing a claus- trophobic jury room in real time, I thought it was perfect," Boehm said. "There will also be filmed aspects in the show, so it's kind of a multimedia production. We've got a very strong set that (has) been designed from grants that we've gotten, which not many Basement shows can do." One thing that Boehm is sure of is that the audience members will not be checking their phones con- stantly to see when they can leave. "You don't want people to come see a show and wish they weren't there. This is a show I'm 100 per- cent confident people aren't going to be sitting there wondering when it's ending," Boehm said. "They will be engrossed in the storyline, and it's going to hit them hard." "Look at him. Where are his meerkat manners?" A .wonderful 'Life' By CAROLYN KLARECKI Senior Arts Editor BBC and Discovery changed the television world with "Planet Earth." This nature docu- mentary took us where no other Lie cameras had pre- viously gone. It Sundays at captured incred- 8 p.m- ibly rare and Discovery awe-inspiring natural moments on only the best HD cameras, and most important, it destroyed the stigma plaguing nature shows everywhere: that they're boring and didactic. With the critical acclaim and popularity of "Plan- et Earth," BBC and Discovery teamed up once more to bring us "Life." "Life" doesn't really differ much from "Planet Earth," but why mess with a good thing? While "Earth" would center each episode in a stunning location (deserts, caves, etc.), "Life" allows for an in-depth look at unique plants and animals with each installment focusing on different types of life (future epi- sodes are titled "Plants," "Insects" and "Hunters and Hunted"). Oprah Winfrey offers her voice for the narration, replacing Sigour- ney Weaver, who narrated "Earth." Winfrey's narration is subtle and not recognizable. It fits appropri- ately with the BBC/Discovery vibe - she doesn't give out free stuff or promote a book club, which might actually be a downer depending on how you look at it. Those who were die-hard fans of David Atten- borough's calming voice on the UK version of "Earth" will be pleased to know his soft British accent has returned for the British version of "Life" as well. "Life" follows the precedent set by "Earth" of having nothing less than absolutely stunning footage. The high-definition, slow-motion shot of a chameleon extending its long, sticky tongue to capture a praying mantis could be replayed at least 50 times before getting old. Also following "Earth," each hour- long episode ends with a 10-minute short "Life on Location" detailing the efforts behind obtaining this spectacular footage. Showing the great lengths to which the crew went makes the series even more impressive. "Life" attempts to narrow down the broad subject matter of "Plan- et Earth," but it doesn't exactly achieve its goal. The overarching theme of the episode titled "Chal- lenges of Life" could be applied to any living thing. And so, especially in the first episode, the segments didn't feel nearly cohesive enough. The premiere episode alone fea- tures bottlenose dolphins, chee- tahs, killer whales, crabeater seals, tufted capuchins, flying fish, Venus flytraps, hippos, strawberry poi- son-dart frogs, giant octopi, chin- strap penguins, stalk-eyed flies and ibexes. Each organism could have had its own episode dedicated to documenting the extraordinary challenges it faces, so the few min- utes each received was nowhere near enough. Though perhaps that's what keeps "Life" fresh and entic- ing. It's clear the show will never spend an entire hour on some- thing mundane; the alternative Oprah narrates in Discovery's new nature epic. is a bombardment of incredible images detailing the fantastic phe- nomenon of life. "Life" definitely lives up to the precedent set by its original series, but after a success like "Planet Earth," it doesn't seem possible for BBC and Discovery to do much wrong. A divine comedy from Basement Arts By SHARON JACOBS Assistant Arts Editor This week, Basement Arts wants you to "Raise the Praise." After playing two shows at Eastern Michigan University, "Altar Boyz" will take Tonight and the stage tomorrow at 9 p.m., at the Wal- Sunday at S p.m. green Drama Center this Walgreen Drama Center Friday. Free The show is a musi- cal spoof about a fictitious Chris- tian boy band of the same name. It follows the Altar Boyz as the band sings and dances its way through the last stop on its "Raise the Praise" world tour. But with a poppy '90s five-piece headlining in a Jesus-centric world, this is no everyday concert. "(In the musical) Sony has spon- sored this machine that reads the souls in the audience - how many souls are lost and are in sin," explained Erik Heitz, the Music, Theatre & Dance senior directing "Altar Boyz." "As the show goes, the Boyz' goal is - through their teachings, through the lessons, the things they've learned in Bible school, through the songs that they wrote and stories they tell - to get that number down and down and down," he added. The show pokes friendly fun at both religion and '90s pre-teen cul- ture - particularly appropriate for the college-aged set. "We all grew up with *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys and 98, and all the girls goo-gooed and gaahed and all the guys pretended to hate it, but actually secretly at home knew all the songs," Hietz said. Music, Theatre & Dance junior Eric Maier confessed his preference for *NSYNC as a youth. "I feel like now (boy bands are) retro," Maier said. "My friend's in a band and when they play house par- ties they'll always throw in one old- school boy band number, and that's the number that brings down the house, because everyone just is like, 'This was my childhood."' Maier plays Abraham, the "quiet Jewish boy trying to fit into the (Christian) boy band." The Altar Boyz' only non-Cath- olic, Abraham was recruited to the group after writing a term paper for bandmate Luke. But regardless Boy bands and Bibles collide at Walgreen. of how much religion dictates the Altar Boyz' motivation, each mem- ber of the Altar Boyz has his own boy-band persona. "Luke wears a lot of ghetto gear because he's kind of the rapper out of the gang, and then Matthew is like the 'heartthrob,' so he's in a tank top and a bandana," said Cody Davis, a Music, Theatre & Dance junior. Davis's character, Juan, was left on the steps of a church-in Tijuana as a baby and was raised by nuns. "The nuns taught (Juan) the ways of the Bible and how to speak with a Spanish accent," Davis said. Mark, the band member of ambiguous sexual orientation, "sings a song called 'Epiphany,' where you think he's going to come out of the closet, but he actu- ally confesses that he's a Catholic," Davis added. Heitz said that the show is "very farcical and it does spoof a lot of things," but it shouldn't offend the religious. "I grew up in Oklahoma, in the Bible Belt," Davis said. "I still go to church today, and I love this show. I think it's hysterical." Adding to the silly humor is the synchronized choreography in the production - all of which, like the acting and directing, is organized by students. During the number "Everybody Fits," the band mem- bers snap and step in sync as they belt lyrics of questionable political correctness, like "It doesn't matter if you're yellow or white or red / It doesn't matter if you're pregnant and you're unwed." Abraham finishes the song with a contorted facial expression and a falsetto reminder summing up the show's ultimate message: Everyone - people of all religions and even the occasional snappily dressed former pre-teen idol - fits in God's family. Opposable thumbs: great for the monkeys, less great for the rocks. A Hellish portrayal of the South By EMMA JESZKE Daily Arts Writer It's not difficult to picture your- self in the dreadful heat of southern Mississippi after watching Orpheus five minutes of The Rude D neg Mechanicals Tonight and rehearse in tomorrow at 8 the Student p.m.,tomorrow Theatre Arts and Sunday Complex. at 2 .m. Luckily for the p cast, this heat- MendelssohnTheatre ed challenge Tickets from $3 (amongothers, like rehearsing over Groove) helped to get its production of Tennessee Williams's "Orpheus Descending" up to the caliber for which it strove. The Rude Mechanicals will grace the stage of the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre starting tonight. Although the actionof"Orpheus" takes place in an unnamed Missis- sippi town in the script, director Kacie Smith, a junior in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, was most interested in emphasizing that this town is Hell. "The design elements create a strange, unrealistic environment in which these characters move and live," Smith wrote in an e-mail interview. "They are never aware that they are in Hell, but every character is there for a reason." "Orpheus" follows a group of characters, each faced with a set of oppressions that create his or her own personal Hell. For instance, Carol C Theatre Lytle, i< Smithc tively fa stands, tions,"x is a "st woman damage Each gle falls overall v that is see as f which it and gos. in the s wrote. Paul Dance j what st way in own rul 'Or] itS Koch Hell dir that tho this wo doesn't1 human do with way the Smitt the they - beyo utrere, played by Music, - was made possible by the large & Dance junior Devin budget allotted for the production. s a "reckless free spirit," With more than $14,000 given to wrote, who "self-destruc- The Rude Mechanicals from the ollows her own path and University Activities Center for up for her own convic- the production, Smith and her cre- while lead character Lady ative team were able to achieve the rong, proud, independent large-scale design concept required who has been scarred and to elicit the emotional response the d by a painful life." drama calls for. character's personal strug- "In the final moments of the play, under the umbrella of an we are not only flying an actor, but riolent arc, depicting a town also using projections, sound, live ruthless toward those they musicians, lighting and fog," Smith foreigners" and characters wrote. "The budget gives us the nclude brutally violent men ability to expand the design con- sipy women who "celebrate cept to match the expansiveness of uffering of others," Smith the drama." As a Georgia native, Lytle finds Koch, a Music Theatre & that Tennessee Williams is less unior who plays Val, said often performed in Michigan and uck out for him was "the students should grasp the oppor- which towns can set their tunity to see a big budget, student- les." produced southern drama. "We read every Willams play in high school," Lytle said. "We allread 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' and 'Glass pheus' makes Menagerie,' and I feel like those are cliches at this point. But this is one of own rules. Williams's firstplays that heworked on throughout his career." The play was initially written said the town functions as as "Battle of Angels" in 1940, but ectly becauseofthis, stating after it was poorly received, Wil- ase in power "have created liams rewrote the play as "Orpheus rd within this town that Descending" and it premiered on have ... anything to do with Broadway in 1957. decency and everything to "(Williams) was very passion- controlling the world the ate about this play and about this y see fit." story," Lytle said, "and I feel like h explained that conveying this is a chance to see something me and mood of "Orpheus" you wouldn't normally see in very nd the work of the actors liberal Ann Arbor." WANNA WRITE FOR ARTS OVER THE SUMMER? WE'RE HAPPY TO HAVE YOU. E-mail shacobs@umich.edu for information on applying.