Press Contact
Manager, Performances & Events:
Randal Fippinger
rfippinger@williams.edu
(413) 597-4808
April 1, 2007
The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial: Presented by the CenterSeries and L.A. Theatre Works
MainStage
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – The CenterSeries, L.A. Theatre Works, and Susan Albert Loewenberg, Producing Director, are proud to present “The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial,” adapted from the Scopes Trial transcripts by Peter Goodchild. The performance will take place on the MainStage of the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance, April 12 and 13 at 8 pm. There will also be a series of integrated programming events in conjunction with the performance.
The subject of the last of the CenterSeries performances in the ’62 Center’s 2006-2007 season is the Scopes Monkey Trial, which famously challenged the ban on teaching the theory of evolution in public schools in 1925. The trial reaffirmed the principle of intellectual freedom as codified in the Bill of Rights, and set the stage for ongoing national debates over freedom of inquiry and the separation of Church and State in a democratic society – debates that continue to this day. The performances at the ’62 Center will showcase the talent of Edward Asner as famed orator William Jennings Bryan, John de Lancie as Clarence Darrow, and Jerry Hardin as Judge John Raulston.
Integrated programming surrounding the performance will include lectures and other events. On Thursday, April 5, at 4:00 pm, Jay Hosler, biologist, critically acclaimed cartoonist, and author of “Darwin and the ‘E’ Word,” will give a lecture in the Adams Memorial Theatre. On Tuesday, April 10, Williams College will take on Union College in the 2007 Ethics Bowl, also in the Adams Memorial Theatre. The first 20 audience members at the Ethics Bowl will receive a free copy of Darwin’s “On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection.” On Wednesday, April 11, at 7:00 pm in the MainStage, there will be a lecture with Edward Larson ’74, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion.” Finally, the Chapin Library of Rare Books will house an ongoing exhibition on Darwin, Evolution, and Natural History, including a first edition of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection” (1859). The Chapin exhibition will run from April 2 through May 25, 2007.
“The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial” will be performed April 12 and 13 at 8 pm in the MainStage of the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance. Tickets are $10 each, or $3 each with a valid student ID. Admission to integrated programming events is free, but reservations may be required. To make a reservation, please contact the Box Office at (413) 597 2425. The box office is open Tuesday through Friday, 1pm-4pm, and 1 hour before each performance. The Box Office accepts cash and check only. Tickets for “The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial” will go on sale on Tuesday, April 3. These performances are made possible by the W. Ford Schumann ’50 Endowment for the Arts and the Thomas B. Healy ’50 Fund for Technology and Ethics.
“The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial” will also be performing on Saturday, April 14, at 3 pm and 8 pm, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, MA.
