Alexander City Theatre II will hold auditions for “Inherit the Wind,” its biggest production yet on Jan. 21, 22 and 23 at 216 Tallapoosa St. in Alexander City. Written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee in the 1950s, the play includes speaking roles for 26 men, six women, two young boys and one young girl. It will be ACT II’s first serious drama since the all-volunteer, nonprofit organization staged Oscar Wilde’s “Our Town” in 2017. Performances will be held April 28-30 at Benjamin Russell High School Auditorium.

“Inherit the Wind” was inspired by the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, in which a schoolteacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was arrested and tried for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution in violation of state law. Though the play is not a historical account of the trial, it does follow the goings on in a small Southern town where a schoolteacher finds himself on trial. The focus of the script explores the right of a human being to think.