Media Credit: Courtesy - Craig Willis Sister James (Danielle Deluise) and Father Brendan Flynn (Patric Knight) must trust their moral certainties to separate the truth from the sea of doubt.

Did Father Flynn molest the only black student at St. Nicholas Church School? Should Sister Aloysius have turned so sharply against Father Flynn?

Only two people know the answers to the harrowing questions you'll have after watching "Doubt: A Parable" at the Lord Leebrick Theatre. Director Carol Horne Dennis and Patric Knight, who portrays Father Flynn, will reveal their interpretation of this mystery to cast members closing night, Oct. 18 (it opened Sept. 26).

As for the those in the audience, it's their job to draw their own conclusions.



"It's about critical thinking, letting go of your own certainty, finding common ground and encouraging friends to do the same," Dennis said. "As polarized as this country is today, there would be more common ground to find if we weren't manipulated by fear."

Amid the abuse scandals within the Catholic Church, John Patrick Shanley wrote "Doubt" in 2004 as a metaphor. It parallels his perception of the moral certainty that helped coerce the George W. Bush administration into taking the United States to war in Iraq. In the play, Sister Aloysius is morally certain that Father Flynn has an inappropriate relationship with one of her students, and she is determined to rid her school of him.

"It's a huge epidemic, a hot button issue - everyone has an attachment to protecting children," Dennis said. "You're set in motion in a particular direction based on what you've read and know."

"As a queer person, I identify with this play in that you may have moral certainty that I'm damned to hell, but I have my own relationship with my higher power," Dennis said. "I have been the one to educate others about the difference between separating a man who abuses a child versus a gay man who chose to go into the priesthood in order to find a safe place to be celibate."

Shanley's play, the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play and Pulitzer Prize for Drama, takes audiences back to his childhood in the Bronx.

It's 1964 and the Sisters of Charity run a Catholic school in their church. Sister Aloysius (Janet Steiger Carr) acts as the stringent, straight-laced principal, while the wide-eyed and innocent Sister James (Danielle deLuise) adores teaching history and seeking out the best in others.

Father Flynn, the young and charismatic priest, is called into question after he has a "one-on-one" meeting with a 12-year-old male student. Sister James takes the audience on a journey between moral certainty and doubt. The journey becomes particularly difficult when Sister Aloysius speaks with the boy's mother, Mrs. Muller (Donella-Elizabeth Alston), who explains her son's "nature" and his deep admiration for Father Flynn.

Lord Leebrick offers an intimate, theater-in-the-round ambiance, and despite the 90-minute production's lack of intermission, it's easy to stay entertained throughout the compelling performance.

"The humor made it easier to watch," Sadie Baratta, 17, said. "It was both intellectually stimulating and funny."

Nathan Strauslin, 17, added, "College students seem more in touch with subversive content. They get it in this production."

The movie adaptation of "Doubt" stars Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It is scheduled for release Dec. 12.
landerson@dailyemerald.com

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