DATE: Thursday, April 17, 1997              TAG: 9704180888

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: AHOSKIE                           LENGTH:   45 lines

GALLERY THEATRE NOW SHOWING PLAY ON FAMED EVOLUTION TRIAL

In 1925, science teacher John Thomas Scopes was teaching evolution in a Dayton, Tenn., school. The Tennessee legislature called that a definite no-no.

Scopes persisted - and to trial he went.

The American Civil Liberties Union - yes, active way back then - offered to defend him, and backed that offer by bringing in the country's most famous criminal lawyer, Clarence Darrow.

Not to be outdone, the state also produced a courtroom powerhouse - William Jennings Bryan - to assist the local prosecutor.

The facts about the nuances and outcome of the trial, including the devastation of Bryan, are available in the local library. However, a fictional account of the story is playing locally.

``Inherit the Wind,'' which runs tonight through Sunday at the Gallery Theatre, is a play based on what became known as the Scopes ``Monkey Trial.'' It was given that nickname because evolution supposedly taught that man descended from lower animals.

Playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee note that ``only a handful of phrases have been taken from the actual transcript of the famous Scopes trial.''

``Some of the characters of the play are related to the colorful figures in that battle of giants,'' they write, ``but they have life and language of their own.''

The life and language is being handled by an unusually large cast. More than 20 stage veterans and newcomers are working on the ambitious project.

The critically acclaimed work succeeded on film and twice on Broadway. It recently enjoyed revival success.

Locally, it is being directed by Jim Ivey, who made ``Driving Miss Daisy'' one of the Gallery's finest productions.

``Inherit the Wind,'' is described by critic Norman Nadel as ``one of the truly great American dramas of this century.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

THEATER PREVIEW

WHAT: ``Inherit the Wind.''

WHEN: 8 p.m. Today-Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

WHERE: Gallery Theatre, Main Street, Ahoskie.

TICKETS: $5 for students, $7 for adults.

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