Lipscomb University theatre students are teaming up with the Nashville Repertory Theatre to perform Inherit the Wind — a work discussing creationism and evolution being taught in schools — at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.
Inherit the Wind is a fictional recreation of the 1925 Scopes “Monkey” Trial, in which Dayton, Tennessee, schoolteacher, John Scopes, is tried in court for teaching evolution, instead of creationism, in a classroom.
Emily Meinerding, a senior acting major, plays Rachel Brown, the daughter of the minister and girlfriend to Bertram Cates, the fictional version of John Scopes. Meinerding says this play is particularly relevant to our society currently.
“I think that there is a lot of polarizing situations in our culture as it is,” Meinerding said. “This play is one that encourages people to be open-minded, not to accept all, but to listen to all, to evaluate all, to read into things before you make decisions.”
This production will run through Apr. 21 at the Andrew Johnson Theater. Tickets are available through the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s website, starting at $25. Chapel Credit is available to students for attending April 6 with a talkback led by Dr. Randy Spivey.
“Come in with an open mind whether you’re an evolutionist, or a creationist or somewhere in the middle,” Meinerding said. “Just be open to the idea that maybe things aren’t as cut and dried as you believe; things are more gray than we might realize.”
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Theatre