The Suffolk Presents '12 Angry Men,' Its First Live Theatrical Production

Since opening its doors in 2013, Suffolk Theater has built its reputation as a place to go for live music. Whether it’s a tribute act paying homage to a favorite 1980s metal band or a heavy hitting legend like singer Judy Collins (who returns to the theater again this year with a performance on July 10), fans have come to know that when it comes to their favorite bands, The Suffolk will satisfy many of their musical urges.

But this week, The Suffolk is branching out by presenting something entirely new on its stage — a live theatrical offering produced entirely in-house.

Reginald Rose’s 1954 play “12 Angry Men” will run this Friday through Sunday at The Suffolk with three public performances. Directed by Joe Minutillo, the cast includes many familiar names from the East End theater scene, which makes perfect sense given that Gary Hygom, The Suffolk’s executive director, has an extensive live theater background in these parts.

“Theater is always in my blood,” Hygom said. “I just love every part of the process and the experience for an audience.”

A longtime producing director and set designer for Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater, Hygom left Bay Street in 2017 after two decades to become the executive director of Patchogue Theatre. During his time there, he transformed the venue into something of a producing theater in collaboration with The Gateway Playhouse in Bellport.

“I brought theater to Patchogue, that’s what intrigued me. Now, it’s almost a pure rock house,” said Hygom, who left Patchogue in 2021 to assume the helm at The Suffolk. “I feel it’s important in any performing arts space that there’s room for all performing arts. We’re slowly trying to spread our tentacles to bring more art forms into this venue instead of being just a rock ’n’ roll house.”

This year, those forms will include a range of new offerings designed to appeal to wider swaths of the population. Hygom notes that the expansion will become more evident in the months to come as The Suffolk adds additional family and kids programming as well as different kinds of musical offerings. He noted that last August, actor Chazz Palminteri brought his one-man show “A Bronx Tale” to The Suffolk, and he hopes to bring Palminteri back in the near future to offer the piece again.

In the meantime, this weekend it’s “12 Angry Men” that will usher in The Suffolk’s official foray into producing plays.

“This felt like a natural step forward,” explained Hygom, who was involved in starting the Literature Live! educational theater program at Bay Street. “So that seemed like a natural fit — to do theater that targeted an educational piece.”

It was also natural for Hygom to tap Joe Minutillo, who he knew from his Literature Live! days, to direct this inaugural production for The Suffolk.

“I think Joe is a great director,” he said.

For those who are not familiar with “12 Angry Men,” the play is set in a sweltering Manhattan jury room on a hot, summer day in 1958. There, 12 jurors are conferring to decide the life or death fate of a teenage boy who is accused of murdering his father. The dissent of a single juror brings into question the evidence and assumptions made by other jurors, igniting a tense examination of the facts presented. As the process plays out and the jurors struggle to find consensus, their biases, prejudices and personal issues are revealed.

Though “12 Angry Men” had a run on Broadway, it began its life not as a stage production, but rather as a teleplay that aired on CBS in 1954. Then in 1957, the script was adapted into an acclaimed film that was directed by Sidney Lumet.

A lot has changed in the world since “12 Angry Men” first aired on CBS. For one thing, the advent of air conditioning means that jury rooms no longer need to be sweltering and heated (at least physically). But even more noticeably jarring in the 21st century is the fact that the “men” in the play’s title were the focus of Rose’s play for a very logical reason.

“You know what f---ing blew my mind? In prepping for this piece, I looked back and thought, ‘Weren’t women on juries then?” Hygom said. “And I found out that, no, women were only put on juries beginning in 1963, and I really had a lot of trouble with that — it’s a milestone that happened during my lifetime.

“I can’t even imagine it now. I’m a champion of women and the thought of such a thing is unbelievable,” he added. “There are a lot of lessons to be learned in that.”

The question of whether or not they should tweak their production to reflect a more modern sensibility was a subject of serious discussion between Hygom and Minutillo. Ultimately, they decided to stick to the script as written.

“After a significant amount of debate as to whether we update it to ‘12 Angry Jurors’ with women included, we felt no, let’s do ‘12 Angry Men’ as a period piece,” Hygom explained. “We have a Black man in the show, but it was not purposeful. We decided to turn a blind eye to color in casting.”

This all-male cast of “12 Angry Men” includes Michael Bertolini, Mike Boland, Matt Conlon, Phil Eberhardt, Josh Gladstone, Randall Hemming, Christopher Lecrenn, Jerome Foster Lewis, Brian McCready, Paul Novello, Dayne Rasmussen, Paul Velutis and Nick Zappetti.

Of course, in the original production all 12 jurors were white, and in terms of the defendant, Hygom notes that in the script the teenage defendant is portrayed as belonging to a minority group — the implication being that he is Puerto Rican.

“There’s no mention other than ‘those people’ and the ridiculously rash generalization of it,” Hygom said. “At the first table read when I really heard it, it was unnerving, and that’s Josh Gladstone delivering the line — he plays the most bigoted character.”

Of course, bigotry is not a concept relegated to the 1950s, and these days intolerance is on the rise across the board — both in the United States and around the world — with targets that include not just racial and ethnic minorities, but gender and religious ones as well.

When asked why he chose this particular play as the first production for The Suffolk, Hygom responded, “For multiple reasons.

“First, I think it’s incredibly timely and the lessons that this has to offer are as profound now as they were in the 1950s. It’s a little alarming that, as a people, we haven’t learned those lessons yet. They’re the same ones Sidney Lumet pointed a spotlight at in 1957 when the film came out.”

Another reason for its selection for The Suffolk is, admittedly, far more pragmatic.

“It works on this rudimentary stage,” Hygom said. “There’s one entrance, the cast enters, completes the show and exits through the same door. It’s supposed to be a tight space they’re forced to deliberate in and they can’t get away from each other. We have a small stage, and it works.”

That stage will have a fully realized set on it, courtesy of Hygom’s design talents, which he is happy to tap into again after his years of doing similar work for Bay Street Theater.

“I enjoyed designing it. Building it is another animal. We have two or three music shows every weekend, so it’s been a trial,” he admitted, without acknowledging the obvious pun. “But I think I’ll be ready for it. It will be fun to see a full set on this stage.”

Because “12 Angry Men” has a lot of important lessons to share about the justice system and implicit bias, Hygom has followed the Literature Live! model by inviting middle and high school students from across Long Island to come see the play on three days this week, followed by the three public performances this weekend.

“We only decided to pull the trigger on this at the end of November or early December, but we do have 1,400 students coming from Syosset to Eastport to Shoreham,” he said. “Productions for students are very rare — they have been rare for years. When we started offering them at Bay Street, I was asked why I was so passionate about it. When I was in junior high school, I went to a production at a theater company in Huntington that is now long gone, and it completely blew me away. But it lit my love for theater.”

“This is hands down one of the best casts I have been involved with,” he added. “When working with a cast of people that are as talented as they are, everything just rises to the top. The performance gets better and better and elevates the entire show.

“We’re only doing this one weekend and I didn’t know what the response would be. If this appeals to audiences, we will do it maybe on an annual basis.”

Performances of “12 Angry Men” at The Suffolk are Friday and Saturday, March 28 and 29, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 30, at 2 p.m. All performances will be followed by a talkback Q&A with judges and other members of the judicial system. The play runs 80 minutes without intermission. Lighting design is by Annabel Soucy, costumes are by Teresa LeBrun and sound design is by Meg Sexton. Tickets are $25 to $55 at thesuffolk.com. The Suffolk is at 118 East Main Street in Riverhead.