Doubt

Tonight, we get to see a presentation of John Patrick Shanley's play Doubt and afterwards participate in a group discussion led by the playwright himself.

John Patrick Shanley's DOUBT

At the Christian Scholars' Conference

It's 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A charismatic priest, Father Flynn, is trying to upend the schools' strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear and discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the community, and indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller. But when Sister James, a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her guilt-inducing suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius sets off on a personal crusade to unearth the truth and to expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shred of proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn which threatens to tear apart the community with irrevocable consequences.

Directed by Mike Fernandez, Chair of Lipscomb University's Theater Department

John Patrick Shanley's plays include Defiance, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Savage in Limbo, the dreamer examines his pillow, Beggars in the House of Poverty, Welcome to the Moon, Four Dogs and a Bone, Italian American Reconciliation, The Big Funk, Where's My Money, Dirty Story,Sailor's Song, and Romantic Poetry (a musical). His play Doubt was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play. In the arena of film, Mr. Shanley has had four spec screenplays produced: Five Corners, Moonstruck, The January Man, and Joe Versus the Volcano. Five Corners won the Special Jury Prize for its screenplay at the Barcelona Theatre Festival. For Moonstruck, Shanley received both the Academy Award and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay. He also did the film adaptations ofAlive and Congo, as well as Live From Baghdad for HBO. Mr. Shanley directs in both theatre and film. In 2009, Shanley's adaptation of DOUBT, which he directed, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film stars Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis, each of whom were nominated for Academy Awards for outstanding performance.