Gay Today: Entertainment

Origins:
Recreating the 1925 'Monkey Trial'

Compiled by GayToday

The University of Kansas' Lied Center will be the site on Wednesday, July 12, of the world premiere of a new theatrical work recreating from the original historical texts one of the most dramatic and most often refought battles of the last century: the Scopes "Monkey Trial."

The 7:00 p.m. event, entitled ORIGINS: Exploring the Evolution- Creationism Dispute through Drama and Debate, will replay the words of the trial's famous antagonists, William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, along with those of other participants in the historic trial.

Clarence Darrow

Also featured in the work are excerpts from reports filed from the scene by the brilliant and controversial journalist and commentator, H.L. Mencken.

"The long-running dispute over evolution and creationism takes on special importance in a world that is being transformed by today's scientific and technological revolution," says Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way.

"How we resolve this dispute is critically important if we are serious about delivering the very best science education to our children."

Related Stories from the GayToday Archive:
CD Review: Satan is Real

Review: Never the Sinner

Critique of Fundamental Dogmas

Related Sites:
Evolution/Creationism Resource Page
GayToday does not endorse related sites.

The event is, as the title suggests, a two-part presentation. The first part is a new theatrical work based on the actual court transcripts of the Scopes Trial and the insightful and sometimes acerbic dispatches and commentaries written by renowned journalist H.L. Mencken, who covered the trial for the Baltimore Sun.

The courtroom duel between prosecuting attorney William Jennings Bryan and counsel for the defense Clarence Darrow will be refought by actors Edward Asner (Lou Grant, The Mary Tyler Moore Show), as Bryan, and James Cromwell (Babe, L.A. Confidential) as Darrow.

William Jennings Bryan during the trial

Mencken's commentary will be delivered by John Rothman (The Impossible H.L. Mencken), while the judge presiding over the courtroom will be played by Dakin Matthews (guest appearances include The West Wing, L.A. Law, and Murder, She Wrote).

Rounding out the defense will be Harold Gould (Patch Adams, Stuart Little, The Sting). Shirley Knight (As Good as it Gets, The Wedding) will narrate.

The production is being produced by Susan Lowenberg of LA Theatre Works and directed by Richard Masur (One Day at a Time, Forget Parisand former president of the Screen Actors Guild).

The second half of the program fast-forwards from the history retold in the first half to the present as a panel of national and Kansas experts discuss, debate, and dispute over the evolution-creationism controversy as it is now playing out in Kansas and elsewhere around the nation.

Panelists will include Eugenie C. Scott, president of the National Center for Science Education; Professor Leonard Krishtalka, director of the University of Kansas' Natural History museum; Professor Edward J. Larson, author of the Pulitzer Prize- winning history of the Scopes Trial, Summer for the Gods; Tom Willis, director of the Creation Science Association of Mid-America; and John H. Calvert, the managing director of the Intelligent Design Network.

The discussion will be moderated by Michael Davis, a law professor and former dean of the University of Kansas School of Law.

Tickets:

Telephone: Lied Center box office, 785-864-2787

Online: Ticketmaster's website: ticketing.ticketmaster.com/cgi/purchasePage.asp?event_id=6003 0DA94C8C956

Cost: $20 for reserved seating, $15 for students and seniors.