Alfred Molina On Civility

Arts & Entertainment

Reflections on his role in 'Inherit The Wind'

Julia Paskin is the local host of All Things Considered and the L.A. Report Evening Edition.

Published November 12, 2023 9:26 AM

Actors John Douglas Thompson and Alfred Molina stand on stage in a tense confrontation. Looking one another sternly in the eyes, Molina wears jeans and suspenders and points towards Thompson. Thompson, in a long sleeve button down denim shirt, is partially bent towards Molina.

John Douglas Thompson and Alfred Molina in "Inherit the Wind" at the Pasadena Playhouse.

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Jeff Lorch

Pasadena Playhouse

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Stage and screen actor Alfred Molina is no stranger to performing characters with dimension, subtly, and humor. His latest role is big-shot attorney Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind, now staged at the Pasadena Playhouse.

The play: Inherit The Wind tackles the ever-relevant topic of who decides what is taught in schools through the lens of an old debate over evolution. Originally created as a commentary on McCarthyism in the 1950’s, playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee used a fictional version of the real 1925 Scopes Monkey trial as a proxy for their message.

Dive deeper: Molina spoke with LAist's Julia Paskin about taking on the role of Drummon, and how both his character and the play are still offering lessons for the culture today.

Stage and screen actor Alfred Molina is no stranger to performing characters with dimension, subtly, and humor in such roles as Inspector Gamache in the Three Pines, Diego Rivera in Frida, Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof, and even as the villainous Doctor Octavius in the Spider-Man movies.

Molina now takes on the part of big-shot attorney Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind, now staged at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Originally created as a commentary on McCarthyism in the 1950’s, playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee used a fictional version of the real 1925 Scopes Monkey trial as a proxy for their message.

In the landmark case, a high school science teacher was prosecuted for teaching evolution. Molina’s character comes to the defense of the high school teacher in a trial that shakes a small, religious town to its core.

Molina spoke with LAist Weekend Edition host Julia Paskin about taking on the role. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Julia Paskin: Your character states he is not there for the money, so why does Drummond take on the case?

Alfred Molina: He's there to defend the Constitution, I think, in some way.

[The play] was striking at something that was very, very deep in the American democracy, which is the much vaunted separation of church and state. And here we had laws being passed which were kind of faith-based that were controlling the education of people in the United States.

And [Drummond] is a warrior wanting to make sure that you know that the laws and people's freedom of thought — in particular, freedom of speech — are protected and cherished.

JP: Here we are in 2023 with some states still debating what can be taught in schools. Perhaps the subject matter has shifted, but the debate in Inherit The Wind feels current. What does it mean to you to perform the story today?

AM: These idea and topics — they're still part of the national discourse.

It's what theater does best in a way. It's able to illuminate these ideas in a dramatic way that is hopefully going to keep an audience hooked on the arguments. And we've had a lot of excited conversations after the play with members of the audience who are responding very energetically to the questions that the play brings up.

JP: Your character is going up against Matthew Harris Brady (played by John Douglas Thompson), and despite having very deep disagreements, there is still a respect and reverence between them. That was refreshing to me in today's political climate. How do they maintain a humanity while thinking the other is entirely wrong?

AM: That relationship, which has gone through lots of mutations over a period of years, is mentioned quite early on in the play. So you understand that there's a real history here. In fact, Brady says at one point, this friendship was based on a mutuality of admiration. They were clearly on different sides of the fence, but there was still this civility between them and an ability to discuss without rancor, without becoming sort of just angry with each other.

And I think that gives the relationship a depth which pays off later in the play.

Set in a courtroom, Alfred Molina stands on stage with his back to the audience, right arm raised addressing John Douglas Thompson who is getting up from his chair on the witness stand. The judge to the left of Thompson and the defendant seated down stage both look on at Molina and Thompson.

JP: Your character even comes to Brady’s defense — or in defense of how we just speak about people. What’s happening for Drummond in that moment and how do you see a connection to discourse today?

AM: From a personal point of view, as the actor playing the part, it made me realize that you can disagree with people but that doesn't mean you have to hate them.

I remember many years ago, having a really serious discussion with a relative. And then we both said, you know what, we're never going to convince the other. So let's just leave this aside and enjoy the rest of the relationship which is the vast majority of it.

And I think that's something we've lost, particularly in this age of social media. And just the decent thing of, you might have disagreed with someone, [but] when they're no longer in a position to argue their case, that doesn't mean you dismiss their whole life.

Drummond actually says at one point, “I refuse to erase a man's lifetime.” And then he goes on to say “we all have the same right, which is the right to be wrong.”

JP: You last performed at the Pasadena Playhouse in The Father in early 2020. What keeps bringing you back to the Pasadena Playhouse?

AM: Apart from the fact that it's a 10-minute commute, you mean?

But no, It's a lovely theater. It's got so much history.

And we're now under the leadership of Danny Feldman, our producing artistic director. We're in a kind of golden age at the theater, in [that] he's really channeled a lot of his energy and creative energy into making it truly a theater that belongs to the community.

I joined the board about a year or so ago, and we've now created an education committee.

The Pasadena Playhouse had a very healthy, very vibrant accredited school attached to it. Some of the alumni include people like Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. The school closed down in the late 1960s’s, due to kind of financial restrictions. The theater was going through a bad time.

But we're hopefully in the next few years trying to resuscitate that side of the theater. And Danny's already started moves towards that, you know, we've had productions involving local school kids.

So for me, it's lovely to be part of an institution that is truly part of this community.

Inherit the Wind is directed by Michael Michetti and is being staged at the Pasadena Playhouse through Sunday, November 26th.

Protip: You can enter a lottery to watch the show from special seating onstage.

Climate & Environment

Santa Ana River death

Body recovered from riverbed in Fountain Valley

Kevin Tidmarsh is a producer for LAist, covering news and culture. He’s been an audio/web journalist for about a decade.

Published January 1, 2026 6:21 PM

An overhead shot of a river with a freeway overpass.

Conditions along the Santa Ana River can become dangerous during heavy rains.

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Courtesy Orange County Public Works

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Topline:

An unidentified body was recovered from the bed of the Santa Ana River just before noon on Jan. 1, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.

What we know: Officials said a witness called 911 to report a person in the riverbed near the intersection of Warner Avenue and Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana. The person traveled about two miles downstream before the search and rescue crew recovered their body in the city of Fountain Valley.

The response: About 60 firefighters from OCFA and the Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa fire departments contributed to the water rescue effort.

The danger of moving water: With more rain in the forecast this weekend, keep in mind that just six inches of fast-moving water can knock down most people, while 12 inches can carry away most cars.

How to stay safe: Emergency officials recommend limiting travel as much as possible during heavy rain and floods, including by car. If you see flooding in your path, remember the slogan, “Turn around, don’t drown.” LAist also has a guide on driving safely in the rain.

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Civics & Democracy

California labor rights

Why Trump administration is challenging new law

By Levi Sumagaysay | CalMatters

Published January 1, 2026 4:56 PM

People carry signs reading: TANNC Amazon UPL Strike in white, gold and black.

Manny Ruiz strikes alongside other workers with Teamsters 2785 at Amazon Warehouse DCK6 in the Bayview District in San Francisco on Dec. 19, 2024. Amazon workers at multiple facilities across the U.S. went on strike to fight for a union contract.

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Jungho Kim for CalMatters

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Under a law taking effect Jan. 1, California seeks to uphold the labor and unionization rights of private-sector employees, as the federal agency that has held that power for decades is in limbo.

Where things stand: The new law’s future is unclear because the Trump administration is challenging it.

Why now: The law, which grants more powers to the California Public Employment Relations Board, is a response to the National Labor Relations Board lacking a quorum. President Donald Trump fired the NLRB’s chairperson, Gwynne Wilcox, days after he began his second term in January. His two nominees to the board have yet to be confirmed, so the federal board has been without the three members it needs for a quorum for months.

California under a law taking effect today seeks to uphold the labor and unionization rights of private-sector employees, as the federal agency that has held that power for decades is in limbo.

But the new law’s future is unclear because the Trump administration is challenging it.

The law, which grants more powers to the California Public Employment Relations Board, is a response to the National Labor Relations Board lacking a quorum.

President Donald Trump fired the NLRB’s chairperson, Gwynne Wilcox, days after he began his second term in January. His two nominees to the board have yet to be confirmed, so the federal board has been without the three members it needs for a quorum for months.

Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, the Inglewood Democrat who wrote the bill, said when the governor signed it in September that “California will not sit idly as its workers are systematically denied the right to organize due to employer intransigence or federal inaction.”

The NLRB sued California over the law in October, saying in its lawsuit that the state is trying to assert authority over “areas explicitly reserved for federal oversight.”

On the legal challenge to the law, Terry Schanz, McKinnor’s chief of staff, referred CalMatters to the state attorney general. Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office is responsible for defending the law in court. A spokesperson for Bonta said the office would have nothing to say about it.

With the NLRB unable to fulfill its duties, states are trying to fill the gap in enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, which Congress passed in 1935. But labor experts contacted by CalMatters do not have high hopes for the California law, which is similar to a law passed in New York this year. They said courts, including the Supreme Court, have ruled that states cannot decide matters pertaining to federal labor law because of preemption, the doctrine that a higher authority of law overrides a lower authority.

“It’s difficult to imagine a scenario where the courts do not overturn these (state) laws,” said John Logan, professor and chairperson of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University.

William Gould, a former chairperson of the National Labor Relations Board during the Clinton administration and a professor emeritus at Stanford University, agreed: “In the courts the matter is a dead letter unless (the Supreme Court) shifts gears.”

That’s what the California and U.S. chambers of commerce, along with other business groups, are hoping, according to their amicus brief in support of the Trump administration’s lawsuit against California: “Under California’s view, every state could have its own labor law for private-sector workers. Dozens of laws would overlap and collide.”

The California Labor Federation, an umbrella organization for unions that represents about 2 million California workers, said in an amicus brief that even before Trump fired the NLRB chief, the federal agency’s backlog had been a problem, leading to companies being able to delay bargaining in good faith with their employees’ unions without consequences.

If the California law is overturned, employees who have formed unions but have not succeeded in securing contracts with employers such as Amazon and Starbucks — which are among the companies seeking to have the NLRB declared unconstitutional — may continue to face delays, according to Logan. Or, he said, it’s not clear what would happen if other workers tried to organize and their companies simply fired them.

“The NLRB defunctness is a scandal which cries out for political reform,” Gould said.

News

Welcoming 2026

Photos from New Year's Eve around the world

By NPR Staff

Published January 1, 2026 2:05 PM

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Izhar Khan

Getty Images

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Topline:

Check out celebrations around the world.

Why now: As the clock struck midnight across time zones, people gathered to celebrate the new year.

Keep reading... for those photos.

As the clock strikes midnight across time zones, people gather to celebrate the new year.

We take a look at the shared joy and traditions in these photos.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Falling balloons and confetti drop on people.

Skyscrapers are lined in lights with fireworks in the dark sky.

White lights in 2026 along with a deer and a gazebo.

People are sillhouetted against a setting sun in a cloudy sky.

A ferris wheel is lighted with the word "happy."

Health

What's next for ACA?

Bipartisan group is working on a compromise

By Luke Garrett | NPR

Published January 1, 2026 1:50 PM

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Julia Demaree Nikhinson

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Topline:

Millions of Americans are facing higher health care premiums in the new year after Congress allowed Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire.

Where things stand: Earlier this week, a bipartisan group of senators worked to strike a compromise that could resurrect the enhanced ACA premium tax credits — potentially blunting the blow of rising monthly payments for Obamacare enrollees.

What's next: Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who is part of that effort, says he thinks the Senate can pass a "retroactive" Affordable Care Act subsidy extension, but "we need President Trump."

Millions of Americans are facing higher health care premiums in the new year after Congress allowed Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire. But earlier this week, a bipartisan group of senators worked to strike a compromise that could resurrect the enhanced ACA premium tax credits — potentially blunting the blow of rising monthly payments for Obamacare enrollees.

"There's a number of Republican and Democratic senators who are seeing what a disaster this will be for families that they represent," Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said on Morning Edition Thursday. "That's the common ground here, and it's a doable thing."

Welch said he joined a bipartisan call Tuesday — first reported by Punchbowl News — in which a handful of senators charted out a possible health care compromise.

"We could extend the credits for a couple of years, we could reform it," Welch said of the call. "You could put an income cap, you could have a copay, you could have penalties on insurers who commit fraud. You actually could introduce some cost saving reductions that have bipartisan support."

But according to Welch, this legislation is only doable with President Trump's blessing.

"It would require that President Trump play a major role in this, because he has such influence over the Republican majority in the House and even in the Senate," Welch said.

Last fall, Republicans and Democrats fought bitterly over the Obamacare subsidy extension, causing a political standoff that led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Meanwhile, Trump has remained relatively hands-off, withholding his support for any health care legislation.

Despite these obstacles, Welch said he believes the jump in prices that people across the country now face will break the logjam in Congress.

"A farmer in Vermont, their premium is going to go from $900 a month to $3,200, a month," Welch said. "So they're going to really face sticker shock. There's going to be a secondary impact, because the hospitals, particularly in rural areas, are going to lose revenue."

But even if the Senate advanced a compromise bill on the ACA, the House would also have to get behind it. And the lower chamber has its own bipartisan effort on an ACA subsidy extension.

Just before the recess began in mid-December, four House Republicans joined Democrats in signing a discharge petition on a three-year extension of the ACA subsidies — forcing a floor vote on the bill when the House returns.

Hours after bucking House Speaker Mike Johnson and joining Democrats, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., told Morning Edition back in December that he thinks this vote will get even more Republican support.

"I don't like the clean extension without any income cap," Fitzpatrick said. "But given the choice between a clean three-year extension and letting them expire, that's not a hard choice for me. And I suspect many of my other colleagues are going to view it the same way."

Fitzpatrick and Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., have held meetings with moderate senators on legislative paths to extend the ACA subsidies, a source familiar with the talks but not authorized to speak publicly tells NPR.

The Senate returns on Jan. 5 and the House comes back to Capitol Hill on Jan. 6.

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