Theatre West Writers Workshop's New Works Festival

April 15, 2025: HERE BE DRAGONS

Playwright: Charlie Mount

Director: Charlie Mount

Logline: Based on actual events, Here Be Dragons examines a debate on teaching Intelligent Design in schools, an Inherit The Wind for the 21st century.

Synopsis: An American high school classroom becomes the battleground for a debate on teaching Intelligent Design. Arguing for faith-based teaching is Jerome King, author of a new science curriculum that can now be legally taught in the State because the school board has changed the definition of what science is, permitting the method to examine the supernatural as well as the natural. Arguing against the curriculum is Jerome’s estranged half-brother Robert Bell, an editor for a skeptic’s magazine. As the two men brilliantly present their arguments they also must contend with their own personal acrimony. In the end the winner of the debate could influence school systems across the nation. Inspired by a number of court cases and School Board “Science Hearings” taking place across the country now.