We shall read aloud 2 plays: "Inherit the Wind" by Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee and "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder. Both are stories about America that seem very relevant in the chaos and division of America today.
"Inherit the Wind" fictionalizes the 1925 Scopes "Monkey Trial" as a means to discuss McCarthyism. It was written in response to the chilling effect of the McCarthy era investigations on intellectual discourse. The play is critical of creationism and the conflict between science and religion. It was inspired by the 1925 trial of John Scopes, a Tennessee teacher accused of violating laws against teaching evolution.
"Our Town," in contrast, is a play that explores the lives of ordinary people in a small quintessential American town. It chronicles their lives in the fictional town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire from 1901 to 1913. It reflects on the beauty and fragility of life in an American small town, shown through the ordinary moments of the ordinary main characters' realizations.
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Instructor: Kristin Frangoulis
As an undergraduate student at Maryville College, a small liberal arts school, Kristin was a permanent fixture in the Drama department. As a public-school educator she taught theater as well as English and history. When living in Maine while teaching at both Mount View and Belfast high schools, her students always took home first place awards at both regional and state drama competitions. The founder of both The Blue Hill Players, a community theater, and The Peanut Butter and Jelly Players, an outreach children's theater in Alabama, she was also hired as the artistic director of The Tuscaloosa Children's Theater. While living in Alabama, Kristin was awarded Theater Educator of the Year.
Kristin has taken a number of Senior College classes as well as teaching two classes on Tennessee Williams plays.
Image credit: Patsy Meisner - ChatGPT
