The Scopes Trial, over the right to teach evolution in public schools, reaffirmed the importance of intellectual freedom as codified in the Bill of Rights. The trial, in a small-town Tennessee courtroom in 1925, set the stage for ongoing debates over the separation of Church and State in a democratic society—debates that continue to this day. Peter Goodchild used transcripts from the trial to create this intense docudrama. Recorded in Cambridge, Massachusetts before a live audience at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in April of 2007.

The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial is part of L.A. Theatre Works’ Relativity Series featuring science-themed plays. Lead funding for the Relativity Series is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, bridging science and the arts in the modern world.

Directed by Brendon Fox

Producing Director: Susan Albert Loewenberg

Edward Asner as William Jennings Bryan

Bill Brochtrup as Ensemble

Kyle Colerider-Krugh as Ensemble

Matthew Patrick Davis as John Thomas Scopes

John de Lancie as Clarence Darrow

James Gleason as H.L. Mencken

Harry Groener as Dudley Field Malone

Jerry Hardin as John Raulston

Geoffrey Lower as Attorney General Stewart

Marnie Mosiman as Narrator

Kenneth Alan Williams as Arthur Garfield Hays

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