Review: INHERIT THE WIND at Sherman Players

Sometimes you get a perfect storm of circumstances that turns the ordinary into the extraordinary. Sometimes you can create that storm with meticulous planning. Other times you see the perfect storm brewing and you take advantage of it. Other times, still, it is pure coincidence. Regardless of how, the Sherman Players have taken advantage of this perfect storm with their production of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s Inherit the Wind.

Under the direction of Gus Bottazzi, Inherit the Wind is a timeless play about the intersection of Church and State, and the barriers that must be overcome when the two collide within the legal system. This courtroom drama pits two well-respected, if fundamentally polarizing, figures against each other to test the limits of faith and science. This 1950’s play set in 1925 isn’t about the time it’s set in, but rather the struggle that we’re still seeing today. The subtle nods to modernity throughout the production tease this timelessness in often jarring ways to the keen eye, but pays off in the production’s final tableau.

The real strength of this production, however, was in Bottazzi’s decision to make it immersive. For those who haven’t been to the Sherman Playhouse, it is in a reformed church building, complete with pew seating.  Throughout the show, residents of the play’s religious town of Hillsboro are strategically planted amongst the audience in the pews shouting amen’s and hallelujah’s with every sermon and boos and jeers with every speech on evolution. This immersion was a brilliant use of the physical space that brings the audience up close and personal to the action, with a few audience members admitting to instinctually joining in on the call and response.

Lastly, the cast must be commended for their dedication to the show. Despite being framed as “faith versus science,” the schisms within each camp provide a wide range of opinion that showcases the talents of the cast. The four extremes can be found in the two lawyers- Henry Drummond and Matthew Harrison Brady- the reporter- E.K. Hornbeck- and the Reverend Jeremiah Brown. E.K. Hornbeck, played by Aaron Kaplan, represents the radical scientist; eschewing decency and respect for the pursuit of scientific truth. Kaplan’s dedication to Hornbeck’s self-proclaimed “unpleasantness” makes him a perfect foil to John Bergdahl’s Reverend Jeremiah Brown. The Reverend is a typical, charismatic faith leader is a deeply traditional community, whose faith appears as zealotry and can whip up excitement with a single bible verse. The unforgiving nature of these two characters can’t help but remind me of today’s political “purity tests,” where it can feel like if you disagree on a single issue, then you are assumed to be the enemy.

Surprisingly, the opposing lawyers- whose reputations are that of zealots- are amongst the most moderate of their respective camps: Matthew Harrison Brady, played by Eric Greenfield, is a man of faith and dedication, but one that rightfully believes in love and forgiveness, which puts him at odds with the Reverend at times, while Henry Drummond, played by Tim Cleary, is a man of principal and order. His frustrated outbursts at the injustice of the courtroom is rightfully shared amongst the audience, however his deep respect and knowledge of Brady and his faith reveals a man who has learned to see multiple perspectives and understand where others are on their journey; a mindset that Inherit the Wind hopes is the primary takeaway.

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