'Inherit The Wind' Still Resonated Today

'Inherit the Wind' still resonates today

STAGE REVIEW

Issues raised in crisp Ann Arbor Civic Theatre production apply even now

BY JENN MCKEE

News Arts Writer

After a presidential election that some pundits billed as an ideological battle between science and religion - particularly in regard to stem-cell research - it’s only fitting to re-examine works like Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s “Inherit the Wind.”

For although the play - produced this week at Washtenaw Community College by Ann Arbor Civic Theatre - has a clear bias, it nonetheless suggests, by its end, that religious and scientific beliefs need not be exclusive categories.

The play, set in Hillsboro, Tenn., tells the story of schoolteacher Bertram Cates (Justin Brewer), who broke the law by teaching students about evolutionary theory.

A famous lawyer, Matthew Harrison Brady (David Keren) -a character based on William Jennings Bryan - comes to town to prosecute the case, but sooh Brady’s rival and colleague Henry Drummond (Larry Rusinsky) - a character inspired by University of Michigan Law School graduate Clarence Darrow - arrives to defend Cates, and the national spotlight suddenly shines bright on this small town.

Not surprisingly, Brady and Drummond’s legal confrontation is the element that makes the play (inspired by the Scopes “Monkey Trial”) spark.

But the script’s first act, leading up to the trial, feels static at times.

One reason for this is a scene between the play’s star-crossed lovers: Cates and Rachel Brown (Shauntya Adams), the local preacher’s daughter.

Their conversation seems largely superfluous, since Cates is primarily a narrative vehicle to get the show’s real stars, Brady and Drummond, to go head to head.

When they finally do, though,
sparks fly, and Rusinsky anchors the cast with his charisma. As Drummond, he communicates various layers - intelligence, fierce conviction, rationality, and compassion - with a quiet confidence.

Keren, meanwhile, shines most brightly during the courtroom scenes, when Brady self-indulgently pontificates and basks in the townspeople’s support.

And when Brady begins to lose his argumentative footing, Keren captures the desperation of a great man brought low.

Additionally, director Jon Elliott has assembled and blocked a highly effective Hillsboro populace - a key ingredient, since public opinion is crucial to this tale.

The townspeople are in an unusually high number of scenes, reacting to the main characters’ words and ideas so that we not only get the palpable sense of what Drummond is up against, but we also realize exactly when the tide begins to turn.

Alexis Elliott’s costume design, meanwhile, nicely underscores the play’s 1920s setting; the men’s suspenders and bow ties, and the ladies’ lace-bordered floral-print dresses, hats, and fussy gloves - worn regardless of weather conditions, of course - help transport the audience to this particularly hot summer in Tennessee. (One small exception: Brady’s pith helmet, upon arrival in the town, is visually jarring.)

Regarding the thematic resonance of “Inherit the Wind.” one need only remember that despite our country being at war, the deciding factor of the last election was “values” - an ambiguous term that a largely religious populace, living within a technologically advanced democracy, still struggles to define.

Jenn McKee can be reached at (734) 994-6841 or

jmckee@annarbornews.com.

"Inherit the Wind”continues at 8 p.m. tonight-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Towsley Auditorium, Washtenaw Community College (4800 E. Huron River Drive). Tickets:

$ 19; students and seniors,        $ 17. Information: Call (734) 971-2228 or visit www.a2ct.org.