2000-2001
The Season

Inherit The Wind

The Brothers On Stage presentation  of Lawrence and Lee's  Inherit The Wind  was Brother Michael's  100th directing project.   A large cast presented  the prize-winning drama  to enthusiastic audiences  December 8-10, 2000.

Brian Fields as Hornbeck	The players in the original drama:  Clarence Darrow  and  William Jennings Bryan	Matt Harrell as Clarence Darrow
	At one point during the famous head-to-head between Darrow and Bryan, on Day 8 of the Dayton trial, prosecuting attorney Tom Stewart rose and demanded to know "What is the purpose of this examination?" "The purpose," answered Bryan, "is to cast ridicule on everybody who believes in the Bible, and I am perfectly willing that the world shall know that these gentleman have no other purpose than ridiculing every person who believes in the Bible." "We have the purpose," countered Darrow, "of preventing bigots and ignoramuses from controlling the education of the United States, and you know it, and that is all."	Pete Frayser and Matt Harrell as Howard and Clarence Darrow
	Matt Harrell as Clarence Darrow weighing the evidence. Darwin and scripture: an epic battle

	T "You have given considerable study to the Bible, haven't you, Mr. Bryan?" "Yes, sir; I have tried to ... But, of course, I have studied it more as I have become older than when I was a boy." "Do you claim then that everything in the Bible should be literally interpreted?" "I believe everything in the Bible should be accepted as it is given there ..." Darrow continued to question Bryan on the actuality of Jonah and the whale, Joshua's making the sun stand still and the Tower of Babel, as Bryan began to have more difficulty answering. Q: "Do you think the earth was made in six days?" A: "Not six days of 24 hours ... My impression is they were periods ..." Q: "Now, if you call those periods, they may have been a very long time?" A: "They might have been." Q: "The creation might have been going on for a very long time?" A: "It might have continued for millions of years ..."     Darrow had set his trap and Bryan walked right in. Darrow asked for and was granted an immediate direct verdict, thereby blocking Bryan from giving his speech.   Within eight minutes of deliberation, the jury returned with a verdict of guilty and the judge ordered Scopes to pay a fine of $100, the minimum the law allowed.           In his last words to the court, Scopes, the man who was reluctant from the start, said, "Your Honor, I feel that I have been convicted of violating an unjust statute. I will continue in the future ... to oppose this law in any way I can. Any other action would be in violation of my idea of academic freedom."
Darrow and Hornbeck		Howard's cross-examination