DOUBT: A PARABLE
By John Patrick Shanley
Directed by Todd Salovey
January 10 - February 8, 2009
Previews - Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 7 pm, Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday at 7pm and Thursday at 8pm.
Opening Night - Friday, January 16 at 8pm
Winner of The Pulitzer Prize, a Tony and the New York Drama Critics Award for Best Play, Doubt is one of the most lauded American dramas in years. Playwright Shanley penned the Academy Award-winning film "Moonstruck," but Doubt is the triumph of his career, turning headline material into deeply moving and gripping mystery, a quiet indictment of the reverence for righteousness in American culture.
Some of you may have seen Doubt before, but not in the intimate Lyceum Space, where you will sit no farther than 24 feet from the stage to experience one of the finest plays of our time.
The Story
1964. Sister Aloysius, the fierce and regal principal of a Catholic school in the Bronx, has a hunch that the only black student in the school may be in danger. Father Flynn, a devout priest determined to bring a revolutionary gust of fresh air to teaching, may be the danger - or he may be the boy's only friend.
Sister Aloysius marshals all her personal fervor to prove Father Flynn is carrying on an inappropriate relationship with the student, devoting her formidable conviction to protect the children at any cost. The audience is invited to be judge and jury - to deduce what is known, what is unknown, what is likely, and finally, who is telling the truth? But what is the TRUTH?
This is the rare play you won't stop debating about for days… where no matter how unshakable your interpretation may be, your most trusted confidant may very well come to a different conclusion.
According to playwright John Patrick Shanley, Doubt is a play about "our American culture of extreme advocacy, of confrontation, of judgment and of verdict." Rest assured, Shanley is not a propagandist: "I started the play thinking about black and white and the certainty that this implies. But it wouldn't make much sense if there was no doubt in a play called Doubt." The genius of this brilliant play is that YOU render the final verdict.