Mumps as a child left Gail Richard completely deaf in one ear.

But when she saw the play “Children of a Lesser God” on Broadway when she was 5 years old, it led her to a path in both theater and speech pathology.

Richard is directing “12 Angry Men,” a Charleston Community Theatre production, which opens tonight in the Tarble Arts Center at 7:30.

Richard was captivated by the use of sign language in “Children of a Lesser God” because of her own hearing impairment.

The play is about a speech teacher who falls in love with one of his deaf students.

“I saw ‘Children of a Lesser God,’ and I was just fascinated by the kind of combination of theater with the sign language component and so that’s really what got me into speech pathology,” Richard said.

She is completely deaf in one ear but has exceptional hearing in the other.

Because of this, Richard, who grew up in Davenport, Iowa and lived near the University of Iowa, was often used for many experiments at the university.

So she was already on the periphery of a profession in speech pathology but seeing “Children of a Lesser God” showed her she could combine both theater and speech pathology.

Richard said she decided to direct “12 Angry Men” because she only directs scripts she admires.

Even though the play originally came out in the 1950s, she said the message is still relevant to today’s audience.

“The message is still so pertinent about how people can have preconceived ideas and someone can sway those ideas so easily based on emotion and not always looking at the facts,” Richard said. “It’s a great character study.”

The play features 12 men addressed only by their juror numbers, not by name.

These men are stuck in a jury room for hours to deliberate on a case that they cannot agree on.

Richard said each character represents a different walk of life, much like the actors that play those characters.

Richard said the age span of the cast is 50 years. The youngest actor is 25 and the oldest is 75.

“It’s just a great diversity of people and ages in the cast,” Richard said. “So it’s again very representative of what you’d find on a real jury.”

Tim Mason, associate professor of economics and president of the CCT Board of Directors, sits in the middle of the range at 53.

He plays Juror 12 and joked he was the “title character.”

“I’m changing the name of the title to ’12 and the Angry Men’ but they won’t go for it,” Mason said.

From the age of 5 on, Richard was heavily involved in children’s theater and started directing while in high school.

She then went on to receive undergraduate degrees in theater and speech pathology from Augustana College.

“The two (theater and speech pathology) seemed kind of strange, but actually I think they went really well together,” Richard said.

She said, when working with children, theater and creative drama are used frequently.

While in college, Richard did voice-overs for commercials to make a little extra money.

She would go in and record the dialogue and the footage of a company would be added to that to complete the commercial.

“They called me ‘One-take Richard’ because I could walk in and I could record it, and they were just thrilled that we didn’t have to do it eight times. It was done,” Richard said. “It was a great way to make some money while you’re a poor starving college student. Theater doesn’t always pay real well.”

She said for purposes of a career to support herself, she did speech pathology for her master’s and doctorate, but still tried to be involved with community theater.

But 15 years ago, she put her theater aspirations on hold to concentrate more on her career and finishing a dissertation.

Then, two years ago, she came back to direct her first CCT production in the fall of 2005 with “Over the River and Through the Woods.”

Richard said it has been nice to get back to theater because it is what she grew up with.

“You can get totally absorbed in your job, and this is a way to make yourself do something a little bit different and be involved with people from different walks of life,” she said.

Mason, who has acted in seven CCT productions over the past five years, worked with Richard on “Over the River and Through the Woods.”

Mason said he likes having Richard as a director again because she is so organized.

“She has a clear idea of what it ought to sound like, what it ought to look like and it’s just so helpful for an actor,” Mason said.

He said she also listens to the actors. Mason knows he can make suggestions or bring up examples and Richard will listen.

“It’s just more comfortable working with someone you know,” Mason said.

Fact Box:

What: 12 Angry Men

When: Today, Jan. 26, Jan. 31, Feb. 1, Feb. 2 – 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 27 – 2:30 p.m.

Jan. 31 – Student Appreciation Night – student discount

Where: Tarble Arts Center

Tickets: $10; $8, seniors; and $6, students.

Emily Zulz can be reached at 581-7945 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.

Terry Davis (left) acts out a scene from 12 Angry Men while Jeff Lynch (right) looks on in the Tarble Arts Center Thursday night. The production’s first show is tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Tarble Arts Center. (Molly Clutter/The Daily Eastern News)

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