Inherit the Wind

This well-wrought, traditional production of Inherit the Wind by the Actor’s Theater of Sacramento is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Tennessee “Monkey” Trial, in which a high school biology teacher was charged with teaching evolution. Galen Howard as teacher Bert Cates is earnest, nerdy, and free-thinking. The press is all-too-accurately represented in Sean Moreau’s silver-tongued portrayal of E.K. Hornbeck, a self-described cynic. But the stars are Sean Williams as Matthew Harrison Brady, the pillar of traditional religious thought, and Anthony Sava as Henry Drummond, the defender of rational thought. Both actors’ intensity carries the play beyond culture clash and into the realm of conflicting ideas.
The Space at the California Stage Complex, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; $13-$15. 1723 25th Street, (916) 456-7066. Through February 10.