Inherit the Wind

Bert Cates teaches his high school class about the theory of evolution, an act that's illegal in his unnamed home state in the 1920s. The great orator Matthew Harrison Brady comes to town to prosecute the case, while famous attorney Henry Drummond offers to defend Cates. The outcome is never in doubt, but Drummond takes a heroic stand in defense of intellectual freedom and the rights of man to exercise free will. Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee's drama Inherit the Wind fictionalizes the Scopes Monkey Trial, but the play is built on the bones of the McCarthy witch hunts. Insight Theatre Company closes its current season with Inherit the Wind. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (August 12 to 28) at the Heagney Theatre (530 East Lockwood Avenue, Webster Groves; www.insighttheatrecompany.com). Tickets are $10 to $35.