James Whitmore is Henry Drummond and Robert Prosky is Matthew Harrison Brady, fighting on different sides of the creationism issue, in the Ford's Theatre revival of Inherit the Wind, Sept. 26-Nov. 5, in Washington DC.
Timothy Childs stages the Jerome Lawrence-Robert E. Lee drama, inspired by the famous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, about a teacher who taught the theory of evolution in Tennessee.
Whitmore (playing the role based on Clarence Darrow) is known for Will Rogers' USA, a one man show he retired earlier this year at Ford's Theatre, as well as Give 'Em Hell, Harry, a one-man Harry Truman portrait, which had its world premiere at Ford's. Prosky played the same William Jennings Bryan-inspired role at Arena Stage in D.C. in 1973 and has been a regular at that resident theatre. He appeared in Broadway's A Walk in the Woods and David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, and TV's "Hill Street Blues."
Official opening of Inherit the Wind is Oct. 2. The cast also includes T.J. Edwards as E.K. Hornbeck, based on H.L. Mencken.
The non-profit producing organization that is Ford's Theatre (in the auditorium where Lincoln was shot) will also stage A Christmas Carol Nov. 25-Dec. 31 and host a visit by political satirist Mark Russell, Jan. 16-21, 2001. Tickets are $27-$43. For information, call (703) 218 6500.
-- By Kenneth Jones
