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REVIEW: GOODMAN THEATRE’S INHERIT THE WIND RENEWS A CENTURY-OLD
COURTROOM DRAMA WITH 21ST CENTURY SPIRIT  
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Nancy S. Bishop
September 28, 2024
third coast review
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_ Director Henry Godinez recognizes that today’s divisive political
environment might change how the play’s themes of “questioning
facts, censoring knowledge” are perceived. _

Alexander Gemignani and Harry Lennix as Brady and Drummond., Photo by
Liz Lauren.

 

_Inherit the Wind_ at Goodman Theatre has no flashy costumes or rapid
costume changes, no chorus or dance squad. It’s simply two hours of
enthralling courtroom drama with lacerating wit about faith and
science. 

The play, directed by Henry Godinez, is the fictionalized story of the
Scopes “monkey trial” of 1925.  The trial attracted attention
around the world as a confrontation between biblical faith and
scientific evidence—the fundamentalist-modernist controversy. The
trial, which will mark its 100th anniversary next year, also was the
first time that trial coverage was broadcast by live radio—by
Chicago station WGN, founded only a year earlier. .

During a miserably hot summer in Hillsboro, Tennessee, two renowned
lawyers face each other, one prosecuting a young high school teacher
who taught Darwin’s theory of evolution to his class, and the other
defending him from the harsh new Tennessee law that forbids the
teaching of evolution in Tennessee public schools. 

Lawrence Grimm as the WGN broadcaster. Photo by Liz Lauren.

The playwrights of the 1955 play, _Inherit the Wind_, Jerome Lawrence
and Robert E. Lee, acknowledged that they wrote it in response to the
virulence of the McCarthy era
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that it is chiefly about intellectual freedom. In Goodman’s smart
new adaptation, the prosecuting attorney, Matthew Harrison Brady, is
emotionally played by Alexander Gemignani. Henry Drummond, the defense
attorney, a fierce supporter of intellectual freedom, is played by
Harry Lennix. 

The two lawyers in the actual trial were William Jennings Bryan, a
biblical expert and former presidential candidate, and Clarence
Darrow, the Chicago lawyer best known then for defending two young men
named Leopold and Loeb in a famous 1924 murder trial. 

Bertram Cates (Christopher Llewyn Ramirez) is the young teacher on
trial for teaching about evolution. His sweetheart, Rachel (Tyler
Meredith), supports him but is torn between Bert and pressure from her
preacher father, the Reverend Jeremiah Brown (Ryan Kitley). 

In a clever casting twist, Mi Kang puts a gutsy feminist spin on the
role of the newspaper reporter E.K. Hornbeck (who more or less
represents Baltimore’s famous columnist, H.L. Mencken, who covered
the trial). In describing her journalist role to a Hillsboro group,
she says, “I am a friend of enemies, the enemy of friends.”

Christopher Llewyn Ramirez, Mi Kang, Tyler Meredith. Photo by Liz
Lauren.

The diverse cast features many familiar Chicago actors. Kevin Gudahl
(Court Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare and Goodman Theatre, among many
others) plays the judge. Lawrence Grimm (A Red Orchid Theatre) plays
the WGN broadcaster as well as a farmer. Charin Alvarez (Teatro Vista
and others) plays Mrs. Brady, the lawyer’s wife. 

Director Godinez also casts Robert Schleifer, an experienced deaf
actor and American Sign Language expert, as Meeker, the bailiff.
Schleifer handles his lines beautifully through sign language and we
always know exactly what he means. 

The action slows at times in act one, but act two makes up for it in
drama, with the famous courtroom scene where Drummond, defeated in his
effort to present scientific evidence on evolution, puts Brady on the
stand to testify as a bible expert. 

Director Godinez and casting director Lauren Port deserve praise for
the well-chosen cast in _Inherit the Wind_. Godinez also recognizes
that today’s divisive political environment might change how the
play’s themes of “questioning facts, censoring knowledge” are
perceived. He says (in a playbill interview) that their goal was to be
sure that the people of Hillsboro are “not meant to be perceived as
ignorant.“ They are people who are “led astray and I’m
interested in inviting audiences to understand how this can happen.”

Center: Gemignani and Lennix. Photo by Liz Lauren.

Performers Lennix and Gemignani both give superb performances. I was
particularly concerned about seeing Lennix reprise the role played by
Spencer Tracy in the 1960 film version of the play (which I had seen
recently). Tracy’s courtroom scene in act two undoubtedly won him
the Academy Award nomination. But Lennix makes the role entirely his
own and, in his dramatically deep voice, speaks eloquently for the
values of free speech and thought. Gemignani is an equally commanding
figure as Brady, which is essential for their courtroom duel to
succeed. 

Collette Pollard’s set design allows the main setting to be
transformed from town square to courtroom by moving a few pieces of
furniture. The main feature of the scenic design is a circular element
above the stage that captures the townscape of Hillsboro. The stage
itself thrusts out into the audience, providing an entrance stairway
as out-of-town visitors arrive with their luggage. Lighting design is
by Jason Lynch. Original music and sound design is created by Richard
Woodbury. Costume design is by Jessica Pabst. Stage managers are
Krista Kanderski and Beth Koehler.

_Inherit the Wind_ is a valuable history lesson although many of the
facts of the case, and how the trial even came about, are not
addressed. If you are interested in learning more about the trial, see
these sites on how the Tennessee law
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to be passed, how the ACLU
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a hand in bringing the case to trial, and even how Scopes
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to be the defendant. 

The 1960 film, _Inherit the Wind_, directed by Stanley Kramer, won
the 1961 Academy Award for Best Film. It’s available on many
streaming sites, some free and some for a modest charge.  

_Inherit the Wind_ continues through October 20 at the Goodman
Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Running time is 2 hours, 15 minutes, with
one intermission. Tickets ($25-$95) are available here
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phoning 312-443-3800.

_NANCY S. BISHOP is publisher and Stages editor of THIRD COAST REVIEW.
She’s a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and a
2014 Fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O’Neill
Theater Center. You can read her personal writing on pop culture at
nancybishopsjournal.com, and follow her on Twitter @nsbishop. She also
writes about film, books, art, architecture and design._

_For more information on this and other plays,
see theatreinchicago.com. [[link removed]]_

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