There aren’t any outward queer-presenting characters in Inherit the Wind, a 1955 Broadway drama inspired by the infamous 1920s Scopes “Monkey” Trial. That’s when Tennessee substitute teacher John Thomas Scopes was put on trial for teaching evolution in a public school in defiance of the state’s 1925 Butler Act (which outlawed teaching “any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible” before it was officially repealed in 1967).
But for Chicago-based actor Tyler Meredith (she/her) who stars in director Henry Godinez’s forthcoming revival of Inherit the Wind at the Goodman Theatre, there’s a lot for LGBTQ+ audiences to latch onto in this drama by the playwright team of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (Auntie Mame, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail).
“I was just so taken aback at how topical it is still,” said Meredith about Inherit the Wind. “Though it was written in the 1950s, it is somehow so incredibly relevant.”
Indeed, one need only to look at recent U.S. headlines where science and free thinking have come under attack. There’s been a right-wing scourge of book banning in school districts and statehouses across the country. Or consider how the Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction issued a memo this summer during a state board of education meeting insisting that “every teacher, every classroom in the state will have a Bible in the classroom and will be teaching from the Bible in the classroom.”
“I hope that audiences will feel how incredibly relevant it is right now,” Meredith said.
Meredith, who self-identifies as “queer and pan,” portrays the reverend’s daughter Rachel Brown in Inherit the Wind. Rachel is a character in a situation that Meredith, an Arkansas native, can empathize with based upon her own background.
“(Rachel) has this really interesting fight in herself going back and forth between the religious dogma she was brought up under and her own identity, which is absolutely how I felt growing up,” Meredith said. “That sense of isolation and wanting and yearning for something more in a small community, I think it’s really easy to relate to.”
Meredith feels very lucky to be back at the Goodman again after appearing in a couple of significant productions that marked a leadership transition. Meredith was in the 2023 ensemble of The Cherry Orchard, which was the final production adapted and directed by outgoing Goodman artistic director Robert Falls. And then Meredith was in the ensemble of Margaret Atwood’s Homer-inspired The Penelopiad this past spring, which was directed by the Goodman’s new artistic director Susan V. Booth.
“I feel really fortunate to have played a character like Odysseus in The Penelopiad, which spoke so much to me as a queer person,” Meredith said. “(It) felt like such a special opportunity for me to get to play a character that is, of course, traditionally played by male presenting actors and kind of take up space in that way.”
Meredith is pleased that director Godinez is taking a non-traditional casting approach to Inherit the Wind. Meredith is also keen that Godinez took aboard her impressions of Rachel during her initial auditions.
“There’s that feeling of being taught certain things and knowing that there is more, knowing that there is more knowledge and opportunities and feeling drawn to get out of the circumstances you’re in,” Meredith said. “I really connected with that.”
Meredith is also grateful to be performing alongside Broadway veterans at the Goodman, notably Harry Lennix as the defense attorney Henry Drummond and Alexander Gemignani as the prosecution lawyer Matthew Harrison Brady (respectively based upon the real-life Scopes lawyers Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan).
These two Inherit the Wind attorneys have always attracted powerhouse stars. These include Paul Muni and Ed Begley, who both won Tony Awards in the Broadway original. The 1996 Broadway revival pitted Academy Award winner George C. Scott against Tony Award winner Charles Durning, while the 2007 Broadway revival starred Tony Award winners Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy.
The Goodman Theatre’s revival of Inherit the Wind is also a celebration of Northwestern University talent, since both Henry Godinez and Alexander Gemignani are both current faculty there. The late co-playwright Robert E. Lee’s biography on the Internet Broadway Database also states that he was “educated at Northwestern University and Ohio Wesleyan.”
“And we have so many Northwestern graduates in this show, so that connection is pretty wild,” Meredith said. “It’s been really special to get to be here at this time. There’s so much energy and excitement behind it.”
The Goodman Theatre presents Inherit the Wind from Sept. 14 to Oct. 13 at 170 N. Dearborn St. Previews run through Sept. 22 with a 7 p.m. press opening on Sept. 23. Regular run performances are 2 and 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Saturdays (also Sunday, Sept. 29), 2 p.m. Sundays and 7:30 p.m. Fridays (also Oct. 2 and 9). Tickets are $30 to $85, though dynamic pricing may come into effect with demand. Call 312-443-3800 or visit goodmantheatre.org.