Arena Stage to Present ACLU PANEL: SCOPES TRIAL
The discussion will explore themes including the “Right to Think,” intellectual freedom, and the role of the arts in American democracy.
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Arena Stage will present ACLU Panel: Scopes Trial on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, at 6:30 PM. The event is a pre-show panel discussion that connects the historic ACLU Scopes Trial to today’s ongoing First Amendment debates. The conversation is presented in collaboration with Inherit the Wind, which is currently running through April 5, 2026, on Arena Stage’s Fichandler Stage.
The panel will take place at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, located at 1101 6th Street SW in Washington, DC. Admission to the event is free.
The discussion will explore themes including the “Right to Think,” intellectual freedom, and the role of the arts in American democracy. The panel will be moderated by Monica Hopkins, Executive Director of the ACLU of the District of Columbia. Participants will include Professor Daniel Mach, Director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief and an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Law School, as well as members of the Inherit the Wind production cast.
Based on the real-life Scopes “Monkey” Trial, Inherit the Wind is a courtroom drama that centers on a small-town battle over science, religion, and the freedom to think independently. The play dramatizes a clash between two prominent legal minds as the trial attracts national attention and personal convictions collide with public opinion. Written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, the American classic offers a powerful portrait of a country grappling with the cost—and courage—of progress.
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