Okay, so in my history class we are asked to reenact a court case at the end of each semester. This semester we literally CREATE a case on the lead suspect of the Zodiac murders which happened in the late 1960's and early 1970's. I myself am a Theatre student and don't know much about law, honestly, but my class elected me as the Prosecutor and a friend of mine, an aspiring lawyer, as the Defense Attorney.
Now, what does this have to do with anything? Well, I'm also a playwright so I can write scripts and what-not, however I have no idea what goes into an opening statement or what types of questions would be asked in such a case. So what I'm asking is that someone please give me a basic idea of what an opening statement and other aspects of a trial must have in them.
Help? Please?
P.S. In terms of theatrical performance, I'd like to state what we have planned as a whole.
We are having one of our classmates play Arthur Leigh Allen (Lead suspect) while the rest of us play the defense, prosecution, witnesses, policemen, etc. etc. Now, in terms of witnesses we have planned to bring the survivors to the courtroom to testify against Allen, and we also plan on bringing the deceased back to life (theatrically) in order to testify as well. The case is supposed to last 3-4 days, approximately 5-6 hours, so I'm hoping to get as much help as possible from other performers and writers.
Now, what does this have to do with anything? Well, I'm also a playwright so I can write scripts and what-not, however I have no idea what goes into an opening statement or what types of questions would be asked in such a case. So what I'm asking is that someone please give me a basic idea of what an opening statement and other aspects of a trial must have in them.
Help? Please?
P.S. In terms of theatrical performance, I'd like to state what we have planned as a whole.
We are having one of our classmates play Arthur Leigh Allen (Lead suspect) while the rest of us play the defense, prosecution, witnesses, policemen, etc. etc. Now, in terms of witnesses we have planned to bring the survivors to the courtroom to testify against Allen, and we also plan on bringing the deceased back to life (theatrically) in order to testify as well. The case is supposed to last 3-4 days, approximately 5-6 hours, so I'm hoping to get as much help as possible from other performers and writers.