L.A. Theatre Works Airs THE GREAT TENNESSEE MONKEY TRIAL

Beginning Saturday, February 20, L.A. Theatre Works will air The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial by Peter Goodchild, starring Edward Asner, John de Lancie and Jerry Hardin. The broadcast can be heard locally in Southern California on Saturday from 10 pm to midnight on 89.3 KPCC, and can also be streamed on demand at http://www.latw.org/.

Peter Goodchild's play is taken from the transcripts of the Scopes Trial, a battle over the right to teach evolution in public schools that reaffirmed the importance of intellectual freedom as codified in the Bill of Rights. The trial, in a small-town Tennessee courtroom in 1925, set the stage for ongoing debates over the separation of Church and State in a democratic society. The broadcast includes an interview with playwright Peter Goodchild and excerpts from a roundtable discussion with actors Edward Asner and Jerry Hardin.

L.A. Theatre Works' radio theater series can also be heard on the following stations (check local listings for broadcast times): 89.7 WGBH, Boston; 91.5 WBEZ, Chicago; 94.9 KUOW, Seattle; 90.1 WABE, Atlanta; 94.1 KPFA, Berkeley; 91.1 KRCB, North Bay (San Francisco); 89.1 KVPR, Fresno, CA; 89.3 KPRX, Bakersfield, CA; and many other stations nationwide.

Major funding for L.A. Theatre Works broadcast series is provided by the S. Mark Taper Foundation. Founded in 1989, the S. Mark Taper Foundation is a private family foundation dedicated to enhancing the quality of peoples lives by supporting non-profit organizations and their work in the community.

This play is part of L.A. Theatre Works' Relativity series featuring science-themed plays. Major funding for the Relativity series is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to enhance public understanding of science and technology in the modern world.