Suspicion and Moral Uncertainty
By Emma F. Caro

"What do you do when you're not sure?" Father Flynn asks the audience in the opening line of Doubt, setting the stage for a story of suspicion and moral uncertainty.

One of the most critically acclaimed plays of the last decade, John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt runs at the Playhouse from March 4 to April 4. Set in a Bronx Catholic school in 1964, the story centers around the hard-edged principal, Sister Aloysius, who rules with an iron fist. She is unimpressed with the new teaching methods of some of the younger nuns, including those of Sister James, who she feels is too soft and interested in offering compassion and friendship versus discipline.

Sister Aloysius interrogates one of her teachers, Sister James, about a priest’s relationship with Donald Muller, the only African American student in a predominately Irish and Italian parish. She is not comforted by Sister James’ assertions that Father Flynn, a young priest, has become the boy’s mentor and protector.

Acting on her deep-seated suspicions, Sister Aloysius is determined to challenge Father Flynn and his behavior. Convinced that the priest will be blindly protected by the church hierarchy, she sets out to take him down herself. What ensues is a bristling confrontation between the fiercely protective nun and the priest who feels that the Sister has overstepped her authority.

But as Sister Aloysius continues farther down a path from which she can’t turn back, she is faced with a difficult decision: Are her fears based upon moral certainty or stubborn prejudice?

Doubt opened off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club on November 23, 2004, and transferred to the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway in March 2005, closing July 2, 2006. At its close, it had run 25
previews and 525 performances, making it the fifth longest running play on Broadway in the preceding 10 years.

The creative team for the Playhouse production includes director Wendy C. Goldberg, set designer Todd Rosenthal, costume designer Gordon DeVinney, lighting designer Josh Epstein, sound designer Ryan Rumery and dialect coach Rocco Dal Vera.

Bronx-born playwright John Patrick Shanley is the author of numerous plays, including Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Dirty Story, Four Dogs and a Bone, Psychopathia Sexualis, Sailor's Song, Savage in Limbo and Where's My Money? He has written extensively for television and film, and his credits include the teleplay for Live from Baghdad and screenplays for Congo, Alive, Five Corners, Joe Versus the Volcano (which he also directed) and Moonstruck, for which he won an Academy Award for original screenplay.

Doubt has been honored with the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play and the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Lortel and Obie Awards for Best Play.

According to director Wendy C. Goldberg, "In this tautly structured battle of wills, Shanley’s message stretches far beyond the church and urges us all as human beings to question our assumptions … Engaged members of a community should always explore their doubts. It is this sort of questioning that makes for an effective and informed society."