The Spy recently attended a play rehearsal at the Garfield Center for the Arts for its mega-cast production of “Inherit the Wind,” directed by Tess Hogans and Assisted by Mark Sullivan, and was impressed with the on-point casting and stage construction. With a thrust platform stage and audience seating arrangement overlapping the play’s action with the audience, the production promises to be intense and engaging. Both new and seasoned actors offer a rich palette of characters.
The play, first presented in 1955, is a fictionalized account of the famous 1928 Scopes “Monkey Trial,” and was created as a metaphor to discuss the Senator Joseph McCarthy House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) anti-Communist hearings that took place in the late 1940s and has lost none of its relevance today.
The play’s cast of 26 roles is one of the largest ensembles presented at the Garfield and includes many actors usually associated with other venues like Church Hill Theatre. Hogans and the Garfield Board hopes this cross pollination of talent will inaugurate a sense of “regional” theatre that would benefit all communities.
The Spy is also pleased to announce that Tess Hogans is the new Garfield House Manager, and we look forward to future productions from the new managerial team taking shape as they head toward winter and 2015 productions.
Inherit the Wind is presented Friday and Saturday, October 17, 19, 24, 26 at 8 PM, and Sundays at 3 PM.
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The following video interview with Tess Hogans runs approximately 5 minutes.
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