'Inherit the Wind': The remaking of American history

In 1955 Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee wrote Inherit the Wind based on the events of the Tennessee v. Scopes trial. The play's enduring success is unequaled by other history plays written in the same era. This study sets out to examine the remarkable longevity of Inherit the Wind. In exploring a possible answer, I look at the genre of the history play, the quixotic Scopes trial, how the playwrights used historical material in Inherit the Wind, Stanley Kramer's movie Inherit the Wind and two one-man plays Clarence Darrow and Bryan which, at present, conclude the Scopes trial journey.; The study seeks answers to the following questions: What makes Inherit the Wind different from other American historical trial (courtroom) plays? What was the result of the playwrights' use of material from the trial transcript, surrounding newspaper and journalistic coverage such that the play reads and looks like an actual trial? Despite the playwrights' assertion that this play is not history, do reality and illusion nevertheless converge because the mode of presentation as played out in the actual trial and the stage play are so similar? What is the unique relationship between law and performance, the drama of the actual courtroom event and how that drama differs from, as well as mimics, the art form of drama manifested in the play Inherit the Wind?...