A Gun Control Musical?
People who have seen The Jury ask us "How did we ever get the idea to write a gun control musical?" Gun control wasn't the impetus at all.
Yes, there are three songs about guns, but when we started to write, we weren't thinking about guns or even crimes. We were thinking about the emotional states Americans experience when they are forced to be members of a group they didn't chose to belong to, and to perform a time-consuming civic duty. (I had just served on a jury and had witnessed these not-very-patriotic emotions up close and personal.)
Naturally, we had to come up with a case for this fictional jury to decide. The stakes had to be high (it had to be something important that these jurors were fluffing off); there had to be room for doubt as to motive; and it had to be fairly uncomplicated (after all, the story of this musical is all about the jurors, not the case). A murder case with a confessed killer, but a plea of not guilty seemed to fit the bill.
As the story of the musical unfolds, the focus is always on the jury. Even in the courtroom when they should be paying attention to the Prosecution, the Defense, or the Judge, these jurors are mostly thinking about themselves. After the trial phase is over and they are ready to take a quick vote for Guilty (and leave), it comes as something of a surprise that one juror wants to stay. Being a juror makes her feel important and she wants to participate in every single step.
Bullying her to capitulate only makes the enthusiastic juror dig her heels in more, and worse yet, the jury is threatened with jail for their loud unseemly behavior in the jury room. In an effort to avoid a bad headline about himself, the journalist among them tries to get a calm discussion going, and turns to headlines of the day. Many of the recent headlines are killings of unintentional victims, accidental shootings with guns and are local stories all too familiar in any city. One of the jurors was involved in a shooting just the other day, and as he shares his experience, others come forward with their tales about guns.
Eventually they realize that they too could be on trial. A connection is forged between the man on trial and the jurors' own personal lives, and they are finally really listening to one another, and not thinking just about themselves.
People who have seen The Jury ask us "How did we ever get the idea to write a gun control musical?" Gun control wasn't the impetus at all.
Yes, there are three songs about guns, but when we started to write, we weren't thinking about guns or even crimes. We were thinking about the emotional states Americans experience when they are forced to be members of a group they didn't chose to belong to, and to perform a time-consuming civic duty. (I had just served on a jury and had witnessed these not-very-patriotic emotions up close and personal.)
Naturally, we had to come up with a case for this fictional jury to decide. The stakes had to be high (it had to be something important that these jurors were fluffing off); there had to be room for doubt as to motive; and it had to be fairly uncomplicated (after all, the story of this musical is all about the jurors, not the case). A murder case with a confessed killer, but a plea of not guilty seemed to fit the bill.
As the story of the musical unfolds, the focus is always on the jury. Even in the courtroom when they should be paying attention to the Prosecution, the Defense, or the Judge, these jurors are mostly thinking about themselves. After the trial phase is over and they are ready to take a quick vote for Guilty (and leave), it comes as something of a surprise that one juror wants to stay. Being a juror makes her feel important and she wants to participate in every single step.
Bullying her to capitulate only makes the enthusiastic juror dig her heels in more, and worse yet, the jury is threatened with jail for their loud unseemly behavior in the jury room. In an effort to avoid a bad headline about himself, the journalist among them tries to get a calm discussion going, and turns to headlines of the day. Many of the recent headlines are killings of unintentional victims, accidental shootings with guns and are local stories all too familiar in any city. One of the jurors was involved in a shooting just the other day, and as he shares his experience, others come forward with their tales about guns.
Eventually they realize that they too could be on trial. A connection is forged between the man on trial and the jurors' own personal lives, and they are finally really listening to one another, and not thinking just about themselves.
posted by Anna Williams at 3:37 PM
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