How does Jerome Lawrence use imagery in Inherit the Wind?

The stage directions call for the courtroom to be in the foreground. This is appropriate as the site of the drama's action. The directions also call for the town to be "visible always, looming there, as much on trial as the individual defendant." This "image" of the town on trial presents the central irony of the play: Bert Gates is on trial for his forward thinking, while the town of Hillsboro is on trial for its backward thinking.