Join Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences (CPNAS) and the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) for a staged reading of the play Inherit the Wind. Inspired by the Scopes “Monkey” Trial of 1925, Inherit the Wind tells the story of Bertram Cates, a young science teacher put on trial for teaching his sophomore class about Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. More than a simple courtroom drama or a debate about evolution versus creationism, the play is a meditation on freedom of speech, a cornerstone of what it means to be an American.

Join STC’s Senior Director of Learning Samantha Wyer Bello for the reading, which features members of the Washington theatrical community in the play’s many colorful roles. The play was written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee and debuted in 1955.

This performance marks the 15th anniversary of the partnership between STC and CPNAS, which began in 2009 with a reading of this very play, as well as the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Scopes Trial, which took place in Tennessee in 1925.

This free performance is general seating and requires reservations, which can be made on the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s website or by calling the box office at 202-547-1122.