The courtroom drama “Inherit the Wind” may have premiered more than seven decades ago, but its fictionalized take on The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes case remains relevant.
The 2025-26 season on the Curtain Call Front Street Theatre stage in Mokena begins with the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. Some performances from Sept. 26 to Oct. 5 are sold out already.
“I read the play in high school,” said director Jo O’Brien. “I love the story. It’s such a great question to ask.”
“Inherit the Wind” was inspired by the 1925 Scopes trial, which marked its 100th anniversary in July 2025.
High school teacher John Scopes agreed to stand as a defendant in a test case to challenge the Butler Act, which banned the teaching of evolution in all educational institutions throughout Tennessee, according to the American Civil Liberties Union website.
Clarence Darrow led the defense along with ACLU general counsel Arthur Garfield Hays, and they sought to demonstrate the law was unconstitutional because it made the Bible, a religious document, the standard of truth in a public institution, the website states.
“I’m a teacher. It had a little more impact on me,” said O’Brien, who is in her second year at Minooka Elementary District 201, where she teaches seventh grade English and language arts and is the drama coach.
While pursuing a master’s degree in elementary education at Lewis University in Romeoville, O’Brien took a research class and focused on the so-called Monkey Trial, which resulted in Scopes being found guilty although that verdict was later overturned.
“I thought it was very interesting as an educator to think about. I learned so much more about the trial,” said O’Brien, of Manhattan. “It turned out to be such an important conversation.”
O’Brien recalled learning there were other states about to pass laws prohibiting teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and how the law in Tennessee was never enforced again after the Scopes trial.
“There were so many things: the ability to have access to ideas but there is also the idea of ‘What about the First Amendment and freedom of religion?’” O’Brien said. “It’s such an interesting legal thing. We think we have things figured out but again, here we are.”
“Inherit the Wind” is O’Brien’s directorial debut for Curtain Call Theatre after assistant directing “Calendar Girls” in March and the community theater’s Emily McCabe musical theatre program for the last two summers.
“It’s such a wonderful script,” O’Brien said about “Inherit the Wind,” which inspired the 1960 movie of the same name. “It makes you think. That’s what the whole point is. The ability to have access to ideas as a teacher, that’s an incredibly important concept we need to keep hold of.”
After first acting for Curtain Call Theatre in the 2023 production of “Steel Magnolias” directed by Matt Carey, O’Brien, along with Carey, of New Lenox, as assistant director, lead a cast which includes Chicago, Hickory Hills, Mokena, Orland Park and Tinley Park residents.
“They have been phenomenal. The older generation, like those of us who are middle-aged and over, remember the story. It’s interesting to have the younger people there,” O’Brien said. “What had happened, they can relate to it. It isn’t so different for them.”
O’Brien said “Inherit the Wind” presents the story of a man on trial for teaching evolution and the debate between Matthew Harrison Brady, who comes to town to prosecute the case, and defense attorney Henry Drummond from Chicago about the law in question.
“If we don’t have access to ideas, we can’t challenge ourselves. It’s such a great theme. I remember it being very eye-opening,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien, who worked for New Lenox Elementary District 122 for nearly 20 years as a sixth grade English and language arts teacher and ran the drama program at the schools where she taught, praised both the play and its film adaptions, especially the 1988 movie starring Jason Robards.
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“The play is a little different,” O’Brien said. “They took a lot of the questions and the answers from the actual trial. It’s very interesting. It does stick to it quite a bit.”
Curtain Call Theatre’s season also includes the one-act murder mystery “The Alibis” from Oct. 24 to 26 and Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” from Dec. 5 to 14. Auditions for the latter play are open to ages 18 and older at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 28 and 7 p.m. Sept. 29 at Front Street Theatre.
The 2026 shows are A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters” from Feb. 13 to 15; “Clue: On Stage,” adapted from the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn, written by Sandy Rustin and with additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price, from March 6 to 15; and William Inge’s “Picnic” from June 12 to 21.
“Inherit the Wind” also gives O’Brien the opportunity to work with her daughter, Mary O’Brien, and son Kevin O’Brien, who are both in small parts.
“They are doing this because they know this play is really important to me,” Jo O’Brien said. “It could be yesterday. It could be tomorrow. You look at people debating laws in Texas with the Bluebonnet curriculum or Ten Commandments in the classroom. It’s still being debated today.”
‘Inherit the Wind’
When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 and Oct. 3 to 4 (Sept 26, Sept. 28 and Oct. 5 shows are sold out)
Where: Curtain Call Front Street Theatre, 11112 Front St., Mokena
Tickets: $22
Information: 708-607-2281; ccctheatre.com
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.