The Story of the Lawyers’ Show
The origin and history of the lawyers’ show, a theatrical production performed by members of a local legal community for the benefit of worthwhile causes, illustrates dramatically how someone’s idea, combined with the encouragement and commitment of others, can result in a very positive impact at a community and international level. And it all started right here in Hamilton.
Growing up in Winnipeg, I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to act, professionally as well as in amateur productions for many years before going to law school. In second year at Osgoode in1974, I was captivated by the movie “Twelve Angry Men”, written by Reginald Rose and starring Henry Fonda and a host of other Hollywood stars. I enjoyed reading scripts and stories about films and plays I’d seen, and when I read script for the stage version of 12 Angry Men, I realized that the play was as compelling to read as it was to watch.
When I found out that the Jurors Act of Ontario rendered lawyers and students at law exempt from jury service, the thought came to mind: Why not do the show with law students? It would be our only chance to see what it’s like to serve on a jury. I knew of some classmates who could play some of the roles but did nothing further with the idea.
I came to Hamilton as an assistant Crown Attorney in 1977. While one show with the Players’ Guild in the early 80’s got me back on stage, my involvement in the world of theatre was mostly just as a spectator and a topic of conversation. In the fall of 1982, the topic came up when I was chatting with Randy Mazza at The Keg on Bowen Street, the “local” for many in the legal community. I’d heard he’d acted in high school so I asked him if he’d ever had the urge to do so again. He said he did and I said I did too. I told him about my idea for “Twelve Angry Men”, and suggested that it could be done by 12 lawyers.
Randy immediately embraced the idea, and assured me that he knew members of the legal community who could act. I was skeptical but we quickly agreed that there’d be no harm in exploring the idea and booking a venue. So, the next day we went over to Hamilton Place and learned that we could hold the Studio Theatre with no deposit so we booked it then and there for June 21, 22 and 23, 1983, which would allow for two performances and a dress rehearsal.
We then had to put together our cast. Randy and I agreed that he’d play the Henry Fonda role and I’d be the wisecracking baseball fan. We both knew Roger Yachetti had acting experience, so we felt he’d be perfect for the role of Juror #3, the volatile final hold-out. Don Morris, a friend of mine from law school, was always in my mind as the laconic house-painter. Randy knew Dermot Nolan, with whom he’d done Shakespeare at Cathedral High School and who had acted with the pros at Stratford. With his talent and experience, he could handle any role, so we cast him as Juror #9, a nasty bigot. Randy also knew Kim Smith, a steady presence with experience on CBC radio; he was the right choice for Juror #2.
Ray Harris had impressive stage and television experience and we were delighted when he agreed to be our director. The likeable Jim Hammond was perfect for the role of the football coach jury and foreman; Bernie Zabel took on the role of the European watchmaker; Bill Tidball would be the fast-talking adman, Mike Lamont was cast as the sensitive young guy with the tough upbringing and Joe Dubeck had the analytical mind of the icy stockbroker.
But what about the sweet older gentleman who is was the first to support the lone voice for acquittal? I approached Kevey Koskey, who had a sole practice in a small storefront office on John St. South. He said that he hadn’t acted since Grade 2 which for Kevey, then in his 80th year, was a long time ago but he agreed to try, asking only for my assurance that I would tell him if I thought he wasn’t up to it. That gave us our jury and we added Lou Kingerly, a retired police officer, to play the role of the court officer.
We had given no thought to how we’d manage the costs of the production but that was soon addressed thanks to Mike Baker, who pretty much “strong-armed” the Hamilton Lawyers’ Club to sponsor us. To give us the feeling of the confined space jurors have to deal with, we did our first read-through in a jury room at the courthouse, then at 50 Main St. E.
We rehearsed for almost 6 months, often using the larger jurors’ lounge. The work was intense, not only because of the challenging dialogue and varying levels of experience among our cast but especially because every one of us was on stage for every minute of the play.
But we bonded. When someone brought some snacks to one rehearsal, the table was thereafter full of goodies. When we couldn’t get the jurors’ lounge, we’d meet at someone’s boardroom. Roger took to recording his substantial dialogue so that he could run his lines by himself when travelling to and from Toronto for Benchers’ meetings. On one occasion we were unsettled to hear that our loud, theatrical declamations about why the young accused in our play should be found guilty were overheard just outside the door with understandable alarm by the family of a real accused person who was waiting for the verdict on a his real murder trial.
The show sold out for both performances as well as the dress rehearsal and everyone played his role to the hilt. We all agreed to donate all of the proceeds of the show (about $5000) to what was then known as the Hamilton and District Society for Crippled Children. Ron Wexler, a local mortgage broker who had a new gadget called a Betamax recorder, created a grainy videotaped recording of the show replete with interviews of the cast beforehand and reactions of from many lawyers and other audience members afterwards.
But that turned out to be just the beginning. At my invitation, my friend Terri Cherniack, whom I’d acted with in high school and who was in Toronto with her husband, a young director named Steven Schipper, saw the show. I have the distinct recollection of how intrigued Steven was with the idea of twelve lawyers playing the twelve jurors. He kept that thought until 1990 when, as the artistic director of the Manitoba Theatre Centre, he directed “Twelve Angry Jurors”, an adaptation of the story to allow for the participation of women on the jury, performed by members of the Manitoba Bar, as a fundraiser for the theatre. Dermot, Kim and I went to Winnipeg to see it and have brunch with our counterparts the next day. The Manitoba production was very successful, both artistically and financially and the concept of lawyers performing in support of theatres and other worthwhile causes spread quickly.
Over the next several years, similar productions were mounted throughout Ontario, including CanStage in Toronto with the Advocates’ Society (Eddie Greenspan cameoed as the court officer), the Grand in London, Lighthouse in Pt. Dover, Magnus in Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie and elsewhere. It became a national activity as lawyers went on stage at the Centaur in Montreal, Touchstone in Vancouver and as well as Halifax, Calgary and Victoria. We’ve heard it’s gone international as well, with lawyers’ shows in the U.S. and Europe.
At what is now the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Winnipeg has had a lawyers’ show every year since 1990. The Country of Carleton Law Association and the Great Canadian Theatre in Ottawa have teamed up annually since 1999 as has Nightwood Theatre and the Toronto Bar. Victoria’s company, LOST (Lawyers On Stage Theatre), have done lawyers’ shows since 1997 and Touchstone in Vancouver has done so as well for over 20years.
Here in Hamilton where it all started, the lawyers’ show has not been an annual event. Our first collaboration with the professional theatre was in 2001 when Max Reimer, the artistic director of Theatre Aquarius, directed Hamilton’s lawyers in “A Few Good Men”. He followed that with “To Kill a Mockingbird” in 2003. Ray Harris returned to directorial duties in “Inherit the Wind” in 2006 and suggested that we establish a permanent charity for the lawyers’ share of the proceeds.
By the time Dermot Nolan took over the role of director of the 2011 lawyers’ Show “A Man for All Seasons”, the Lawyers’ Club had entered into an agreement with The Hamilton Community Foundation to create a permanent endowment fund in the name of Hamilton’s lawyers to benefit local children and young people. We agreed to seed it with the lawyers’ $6,000 share of the proceeds from Inherit the Wind and thus was born The Lawyers’ Legacy for Children (later renamed Lawyers’ Legacy for Children – The Ray Harris Fund in Ray’s memory)
The 2011 production of A Man for All Seasons created a new model for the Hamilton Lawyers’ Show; generous sponsors from the bar and the wider community stepped up and the Lawyers’ Show became a robust fundraising vehicle for both Theatre Aquarius and the Lawyers’ Legacy for Children. The same model was used for the 2017 Lawyers’ Show, “Witness for the Prosecution”, directed by Luke Brown and for this year’s enormously successful production of “The Sting”. And in a rather remarkable turn of events, we were blessed to have Steven Schipper, now retired from the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre with the Order of Canada, as our director for The Sting.
Over the years, lawyers’ shows throughout Canada have raised many millions of dollars for worthwhile causes while providing creative outlets for the participants and entertainment for their audiences. The Hamilton bar can be enormously proud that this concept was conceived right here by its members, that they have generously contributed their time and talents for over forty years and that their efforts have built an endowment fund for children that has grown from a modest contribution of $6,000 to over $750,000 today, and growing
Our original cast celebrated our 10 year anniversary in 1993 at lunch on the very stage where we’d performed. Sadly, we’ve lost several of the original “Angry Men” members over the years (Joe Dubeck, Kevey Koskie, Lou Kingerly, Joe Dubeck, Jim Hammond, Roger Yachetti and Randy Mazza) but those “happy few” which remain a “band of brothers” have continued to get together every 10 years ever since. To honour their efforts and with great pride and pleasure, we’re providing the Hamilton Law Association with video recordings of our productions and materials about lawyers’ shows across Canada for their archives.