In Jeffrey Lynch’s first acting role, he tackled an “aggressive” part in “Twelve Angry Men.”

The Charleston Community Theatre’s production of “Twelve Angry Men” opened this weekend in Tarble Arts Center to a full house Friday night.

Lynch, Eastern’s associate dean for the College of Arts and Humanities, described his character, Juror 3, as a “know-it-all” and a “total jerk.”

But for Lynch, who grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., the character was not hard for him to portray.

“I know a lot of guys like this,” he said.

Lynch said anybody brought up in Brooklyn would recognize his character.

Lynch was one of 13 characters in the play, which comprised 12 jurors and one guard.

The 12 jurors are stuck in a small, hot room until they reach a decision. A boy is accused of murdering his father and the jurors have to decide if the boy is guilty. The jury’s initial vote is 11-1, with Juror 8 having doubts against the evidence that every one else is quick to believe.

A long table and 12 chairs sit in the center of the room. A small pad of yellow legal paper and a pencil sit at each spot. A small table with a plant and a water dispenser make up the rest of the simple set.

The audience sits around the mock jury room in an arena setting.

Gail Richard, director for “Twelve Angry Men,” purposely set the room this way.

She said she wanted the audience members to feel as if they were actually in the room with the jurors.

“The audience caught so many things because they’re right there,” said Richard, professor and chair of the department of communication disorders and sciences.

Lynch said performing the play was a different experience in front of an audience.

He compared acting to teaching.

“You pick up energy from the audience, just like you pick up energy from students,” Lynch said.

He said actors and teacher both feed off the energy and responses from the audience.

Students guide the teacher in class, and Lynch said he felt the audience guide him as an actor.

“I love communication between actors and the audience,” he said.

Lynch said he was surprised by some audience reactions, as were other actors.

The audience laughed at lines Lynch said he never would have predicted them to.

In one scene, Juror 10, played by Matt Piescinski, started speaking of a “them” and a “they” who are all violent, with no feelings. As Juror 10 goes on, the other jurors get up from the table and turn their backs.

Lynch described the speech as “a terrible racist speech that is just ferocious.”

It surprised Lynch that the audience would laugh at this part because it is one of the most intense speeches in the play. But he said he realized the laughter was emotional discomfort for what was being said.

“The audience is looking for a way to release that tension,” he said.

Richard said other cast members also questioned why the audience laughed during tense moments.

She agreed with Lynch that it was nervous laughter – a release of that tension.

It showed the audience was absorbed into the performance, Richard said.

“They caught all the little subtleties,” she said.

She said it is surprising how caught up one can get in the play.

“You have to focus and stay with it, but you can really lose yourself in it,” Richard said.

Jackie Swango did not know anything about the play before she saw “Twelve Angry Men,” but she said she enjoyed the performance.

Swango, who works at Eastern’s Child Care Resource and Referral, said the audience was free to make its own judgment.

She said the play was most intense when her own emotion was involved. She said she was pulling for Juror 8.

“You were hoping he was caring enough to sway the rest of the jurors,” Swango said.

Emily Zulz can be reached at 581-7942 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.

Al Joyner who plays Juror number 9 in twelve angry men speaks up about his objection of the vote and explains why he doesn’t agree with the guilt vote during the production of “Twelve angry men” at the Tarble Arts Center Saturday night. (John Bailey/The D

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