Contact:

Frances Porter, Executive Director
History Center at Courthouse Square
P.O. Box 261
Berrien Springs, MI 49103

Tele: (269) 471-1202

Theater performance at historic 1839 Courthouse

Theater comes to the historic 1839 Berrien County courthouse in Berrien Springs with two special performances of the courtroom drama Inherit the Wind. Performances at the History Center at Courthouse Square will be Friday and Saturday, November 16 and 17, at 8:00 p.m. All tickets are $10. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling the History Center at (269) 471-1202, Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. Ð 5 p.m.

The Lake Michigan College theatre department, under the direction of Kevin Wurz, will open the classic drama at the LMC Hanson Theatre on November 8, 9 and 10 at 8:00 p.m., and then bring it to the 1839 Courthouse on the following weekend. Tickets for the LMC performances are available through the LMC Mendel Center Box Office by calling (269) 927-1221 Monday - Friday from 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. Tickets will also be available at the door one hour before curtain. Prices are $7 adults, $5 students and senior citizens, and $4 each for groups of 20 or more.

Inherit the Wind, written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, opened on Broadway in January 1955. The play's title comes from Proverbs 11:29: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart."

The play dramatizes the 1925 "Scopes Monkey Trial" in which schoolteacher John T. Scopes stood accused of teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to a high school science class, contrary to Tennessee state law. The fictional characters of Matthew Harrison Brady, Henry Drummond, Bertram Cates and E. K. Hornbeck correspond to the historical figures of William Jennings Bryan, Clarence Darrow, John Scopes, and H. L. Mencken, respectively.

The trial pitted two legal titans against each other in the courtroom in Dayton, Tennessee: three-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution and attorney Clarence Darrow for the defense. The play depicts Bryan and Darrow as the two lead attorneys, but in reality they were only part of a legal team. Bryan represented the World Christian Fundamentals at the trial, while Darrow came in at the behest of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The script also strays from historical fact with its depiction of schoolteacher John T. Scopes as a rather na•ve victim of religious and political persecution. In reality, the ACLU had been looking for a test case to overturn the Butler Act, a 1925 Tennessee law that forbade teaching that man had evolved from lower animals. A group of Dayton businessmen persuaded Scopes to break the law and serve as the defendant, hoping that the ensuing publicity would focus national attention on their town and revive DaytonÕs flagging economy.

The trial turned into a media circus. Reporters and the curious public swarmed Dayton, vendors sold souvenirs on the sidewalks, and everyone vied for a chance to see Darrow and Bryan perform in the public eye. At the trialÕs climax, Bryan rather imprudently took the stand himself as an authority on the Bible. Darrow questioned him at length, finally securing from Bryan an admission that the six days of creation described in Genesis might very well have been periods rather than 24-hour days.

Bryan had stumbled under the questioning, but the jury convicted Scopes. A year later, the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the conviction on a technicality. Bryan himself died in Dayton just six days after the trial ended.

Although they based their script on historical events, Lawrence and Lee intended their play to dramatize the dangers of McCarthyism rather than present a documentary about the Scopes Trial. Critics have hailed Inherit the Wind as one of the great American plays of the 20th century, and its themes of religious belief, religious tolerance, and freedom of thought continue to resonate today. The play has seen numerous Broadway revivals and been produced as both a motion picture and a made-for-television movie.

The cast features William Klein as Matthew Harrison Brady, Duane Nails as Henry Drummond, and Sam Sonoho as Bertram Cates. Other cast members include Bridget Alsbro, Jay Blackburn, Bobby Burger, Tom Cassidy, Tracy Cooper, Jeremy Croteau, Larry Fish, Megan Hamel, Caitlin Hernandez, Chenai Marker, Lisa Miller, Bob Myers, Brock Neubauer, Greg Sawatzki, Alan Selvidge, Jayson Sheene, Veronica Uvalle, and Kevin Wurz.

The production crew includes Jackie McCloughan, Alexandra Merrill, Penny Murphy, Charlotte Smith, and Kyra Utroske.

For more information, please call the History Center at (269) 471-1202.

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