Last night I watched “Inherit the Wind” performed by Gallatin County High School. The play is a fictionalized version of the Scopes Monkey Trial, which brought John T. Scopes to court because he taught evolution in a Tennessee high school, which was against the law in 1925.
I critiqued the show for the Greater Cincinnati Cappies program, a group of high school theatre students who review plays and musicals in the area. During our pre-show discussion, our discussion mentor explained the background of the play and said something along the lines of, “If you don’t think this theme is relevant today, think about it this way: this debate over creationism and evolution is a matter of free speech. Controversies over free speech still exist — just take a look at the news around the nation of high school newspapers being restricted on what they can print because of administrative concerns.”
Check.
Sheila Raghavendran 