Theater Central’s production of “12 Angry Jurors” was selected to perform at the Illinois High School Theatre Festival, held at Illinois State University from Jan. 11-13.

Theater Central director Susan Johnson described the selection process as competitive.

“We’re in the Chicagoland area where many high schools exist,” Johnson said. “It’s a little more challenging to be one of the ones selected because they try to balance [large schools] with small schools [so there’s a lot of competition for the large school slots].”

Johnson is excited about the program and for the cast to get the opportunity to perform on a much larger platform.

“It’s an honor and it’s really exciting,” Johnson said. “I am extremely excited for our students who get this opportunity to take their show to a new audience in a new space and have their peers see their work. I think it’s a great honor for the theater program.”

Johnson and her cast have had to work extra hard to rework the unique set to accommodate the theater at ISU.

“Our set pieces would block their aisles, so we’re not just taking the same show,” Johnson said. “We had to rework it and the kids have been amazing, putting in that additional effort to create a version of the show that we can perform.”