Review: New Fortune’s immersive ‘Monkeys’ has a familiar ring

One hundred years ago this month, Americans became fixated on a sensational jury trial in Dayton, Tennessee.

Famed trial attorney Clarence Darrow and lawyer-orator William Jennings Bryan faced off in court in what’s known as the “Scopes Monkey Trial.”

Darrow defended a public school teacher for using a biology book that taught evolution, while Bryan defended the state’s right to provide only biblical Creationism in its textbooks. As the two legal titans faced off in the courthouse, a circuslike atmosphere of preaching evangelists, food concessions, carnival games and live animal exhibits sprung up outside.

On Saturday, San Diego’s New Fortune Theatre re-created this cultural happening at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Point Loma. Inside the church’s auditorium, actors performed a series of three readings of a condensed transcript of the trial. And outside on the church lawn, there were monkey-themed carnival games, concessions, an exhibit of live snakes, live music and more.

The highly ambitious project, named “American Monkeys,” didn’t just recall a famous historical event from America’s past. It also brought into sharp focus how everything old is new again in modern-day America, where religious conservatism is once again on the rise.

The project was inspired by A.J. Schaar’s “That Book! American Monkeys,” an abridged reader’s edition of the Scopes trial transcript. Schaar is the executive director of New Fortune, and the theater company’s co-founder and artistic director, Richard Baird, directed the production. Schaar’s book is available for sale and also a free version is available for download on the New Fortune website.

The highlight of the three hourlong staged readings — each presenting a different part of the trial from beginning to end — was the concluding courthouse battle between two of the brightest minds in 20th-century American jurisprudence. As Darrow, Matthew Henerson was charismatic and quick-witted as he cornered the overmatched Bryan, played with dignity and blustering pride by Andrew Barnicle, to admit he believed some historical passages in the Bible are metaphor rather than fact.

Other standout performers in the reading included Bruce Turk, Matthew Floyd Miller, Shana Wride, Walter Murray, Bo Foxworth and Melanie Lora.

In the third and final reading, Darrow worked hard to ensure that the court records would show evidence of the prosecution’s bias against freedom of speech. Theatrically, the reading started out rather slow, but picked up midway through as Henerson and Barnicle faced off.

As a follow-up to “American Monkeys,” New Fortune will present a staged reading of “Star Trek” actor John de Lancie’s radio-style play “The Dover Panda Trial” on Nov. 10 at the San Diego Central Library. De Lancie, who will star in the reading, based his play on a 2005 trial over a school board in Dover, Pennsylvania, that attempted to replace an approved biology textbook with one teaching Creationism. The reading will be followed by a panel discussion. For details, visit newfortunetheatre.com.