That evening, Reverend Brown leads a prayer meeting for the town, attended both by Brady and Drummond. It is clear that many of the jurors are highly in favor of Brady. During the first day of the trial, Brady and Drummond, along with district attorney Davenport, select a jury. He announces that progressive lawyer Henry Drummond from Chicago will travel to Hillsboro to defend Cates in court. Reporter Hornbeck writes articles in support of Cates, belittling the religious views of the town. The town is excited by Brady’s arrival, and Brady promises to not only keep Brady in jail but to defend Christian values, keeping the atheistic views of northerners at bay.

His friend and potential lover, Rachel, goes to the jail to visit him, warning him that Matthew Harrison Brady, a famous Presidential candidate, is coming to Hillsboro to speak against him in court. High school teacher Bertram Cates has been arrested for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution in his science class. Hollywood released an Academy Award-nominated film version in 1960 starring Spencer Tracy, Frederic March, and Gene Kelly. Broadway picked up the rights soon after and the play has enjoyed enormous success and multiple revivals since.

Originally rejected by Broadway, the play premiered in Dallas to rave reviews. Scopes was convicted for teaching evolution in his high school science classroom in Dayton, Tennessee. First performed in 1955, the play is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial during which teacher John T. Inherit the Wind is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E.

Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence