A meaningful play based on the scopes monkey trial of 1925, in which a tennessee teacher was tried for teaching evolution. The accused was a slight, frightened man who'd deliberately broken the law. His trial was a Roman...A meaningful play based on the scopes monkey trial of 1925, in which a tennessee teacher was tried for teaching evolution. The accused was a slight, frightened man who'd deliberately broken the law. His trial was a Roman circus, the chief gladiators being the two great legal giants of the century.