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 and 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 came to be passed, how the ACLU had a hand in bringing the case to trial, and even how Scopes came 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 or by 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.
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