Arena Stage Reveals Cast and Creative Team For INHERIT THE WIND

“For decades, Inherit the Wind has reminded us that the fight for intellectual freedom is far from abstract, but personal, political, and ongoing,” shared Arena Stage Artistic Director Hana S. Sharif. “In a city where ideas shape policy and belief shapes power, Inherit the Wind encourages us to think and to consider at what cost we are willing to defend the right to think at all.”

Taking the stand—and the stage—the cast of Inherit the Wind boasts many Arena alumni, including Alex De Bard (Arena's A Wrinkle in Time), Billy Eugene Jones (Arena's Stick Fly), Rebecca Madeira (Arena's A Wrinkle in Time), Ethan Miller (Arena's Watch on the Rhine), Natalya Lynette Rathnam (Arena's The Age of Innocence), Todd Scofield (Arena's Holiday), Holly Twyford (Arena's Long Day's Journey Into Night), and James Whalen (Arena's The Heiress). The company also features Jordan Friend (Round House Theatre's A Hanukkah Carol), Alyssa Keegan (Folger Theatre's Twelfth Night), Alina Collins Maldonado (Folger Theatre's Twelfth Night), Dakin Matthews (Gilmore Girls, Broadway's To Kill a Mockingbird), Noah Plomgren (Broadway's Dead Outlaw), and Tristan Turner (South Coast Rep's A Raisin in the Sun), all making their Arena debut.

This American classic pits two towering legal minds—Matthew Harrison Brady and Henry Drummond, portrayed by Matthews and Jones, respectively—against each other in a trial that transcends its time. A searing, deeply human portrait of a country still wrestling with the cost of progress, Inherit the Wind puts the nation's never-ending war over faith, truth, and the freedom of thought on the front line.

“[Arena Stage's Founding Director] Zelda Fichandler always challenged artists and institutions to live up to their values and stand up for the truth,” said Purcell. “Inherit the Wind is a play that challenges us to examine how we do that in the face of repression and threat. To be doing this play at Arena Stage is an awesome responsibility and a genuine thrill. I can't wait to share it with DC audiences.”

Purcell leads a jury of extraordinary creatives that includes set designer Tanya Orellana (Berkeley Rep's Mother Road), Costume Designer An-lin Dauber (American Repertory Theater's The Odyssey), lighting designer Xavier Pierce (Broadway's Clybourne Park), and sound designer Paul James Prendergast (Broadway's The Great Society). New York Casting is by tbd casting co./Stephanie Yankwitt, CSA and DC Casting is by Raiyon Hunter, CSA. The stage manager for this production is Christi B. Spann and the assistant stage manager is Stefania Giron Zuluaga.

Programmed by Sharif as part of Arena Stage's 75th Anniversary Season, this production of Inherit the Wind speaks to the bold and brave work Arena has produced in the nation's capital for over seven decades. Arena was proudly the first American theater selected by the State Department to tour the Soviet Union during the Cold War. As part of the 1973 cultural exchange agreement between the two countries, Arena presented Thornton Wilder's Our Town, directed by Alan Schneider, in repertory with Inherit the Wind, directed by Fichandler.