'12 Mo' Angry Men:' Essex County Producer Reboots Iconic Play

NEWARK, NJ — A new play from an arts teacher, activist and beauty pageant winner in Essex County is set to debut at Newark's Theater in the Park this summer.

“12 Mo' Angry Men,” written and directed by TaNisha Fordham and produced by Enlightened Visions, is set for a breakout premiere at Newark's 2021 Theater in the Park series.

Fordham, who co-produced "My Nephew Emmett," which was nominated for an Oscar in 2018, offered the following description of her latest work:

“12 Mo' Angry Men, the story of 11 black jurors and one white juror, deliberating on the guilt or innocence of a white police officer who shot and killed a black teen, is the new and timely reimagining of ‘12 Angry Men,’ a breakout 1954 (play)/1957 (film) by Reginald Rose.”

Showings will take place on July 23 and 30, and Aug. 6 and 13. Each production is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at Mulberry Commons Park in Newark, directly in front of the Prudential Center. Sponsored by the City of Newark, the events are free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, blankets and food. Learn more here.

Fordham said the new play is her latest effort in a long-running attempt at curating “art as resistance.”

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“’12 Mo' Angry Men’ was written at the height of the 2020 civil unrest that broke forth in the wake of the murder of Goerge Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, as well as the dawn of the COVID pandemic,” Fordham said.

Fordham said that through the play, she attempts to explore the many themes with which so many people constantly wrestle: identity, religion, health and wellness, politics, mental health, how we address national/international crisis, policing policies – particularly in minority and underrepresented communities – and the “American system of justice.”

The cast is slated to do a filmed production of the piece later in the summer, after the wrap of the staged run. Additionally, the production has been chosen for a run with NYC's Fall/WinterFest pending the reopening of theaters throughout Manhattan, Fordham said.

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