Photo by Libby SterlingBy Libby Sterling | For the Juneau Empire
John Patrick Shanley, born in 1950, is the playwright responsible for "Doubt," which originated as an off-Broadway play first staged in 2004. It then ran for more than 500 performances on Broadway, winning a Pulitzer Prize in drama, a Tony Award for best play, and a Drama Desk Award, each earned in 2005.
Set in a Catholic church-school in the Bronx in 1964, "Doubt" follows the drama surrounding two nuns, Sister Aloysius and Sister James (played by Shona Strauser and Christina Apathy), who have opposing suspicions concerning the ethical integrity of a priest teaching in the school, Father Flynn (Ed Christian). The sisters' main concern is the nature of his interactions with a certain boy in the school named Donald Muller.
As the play's title implies, the situation is far from straightforward and involves potential conclusions that may seem to be obvious at first. However, much like a religious parable or allegorical fable, all the evidence may be considered and examined through a diverse range of lenses. In turn, the characters' fluctuating and opposing presumptions constantly trouble them.
The production consists of one act, though the original New York cast found that the second act happened after the curtain fell. It was then that the audience would leave the theater and begin to discuss their viewpoints on varying elements of the play that remain unrevealed on stage.
The actors in the Perseverance production also said they don't expect to be the only ones talking after the curtain call.
"In Juneau there's always a response from the community, which is a great thing," Strauser said.
Director Flordelino Lagundino has been working at Perseverance for the past four years, though he has been directing since 1991. He fills varying roles as an actor, director, teacher and administrator.
He also is the founder of the Thunder Mountain Theatre Project, where he will be directing "Shakespeare's R&J" in early 2009. This contemporary spin on the original "Romeo and Juliet" is similar in nature to "Doubt" in that it also brings potentially contentious matters up for discussion.
Lagundino said that plays like these are why he loves to direct even more than he likes to perform.
"Directing gives me a voice in some ways. There are certain plays that I feel are important to do because of the playwright's voice. I like to produce or direct plays that, in some way, I'm in agreement with or I feel should be part of a dialogue," he said.
Lagundino said he also likes "Doubt" because he feels that it is a discussion about ethics.
"This show is based on the fact that Shanley believes that there is nothing that is simply black and white," he said. "In the play there are a lot of sermons, and I consider theater as a place that is sort of a sermon, in a way. Not in a sense of saying you absolutely have to do this or that, but it's a place to discuss something. 'Doubt' is a discussion about religion and how we get in our heads that things are a certain way when those ideas are built on emotion and not really on fact."
"Doubt" opens the door to a great deal of discourse on many levels. Christian said he finds it interesting to see the varying evaluations audiences make of his character, the suspected priest.
"People just assume that I play a bad guy," he said.
Christian said one of Shanley's main goals in the play is to address the high level of certainty that is often used in making assumptions. He said it also is important to consider the difference in mainstream thought between the 1960s, when the play is set, versus that of the present day.
"From our perspective in the 21st century, we all think we know things for sure because of the experience of the lawsuits and things in recent years," he said regarding inferences often made about church scandals.
Lagundino said he notices the same attitudes in the general hindsight of the public. We can look to the past from the present and the verdict can seem obvious, but it wouldn't have been as unmissable to people in the 1960s.
"From our point of view, they should have known that Father Flynn was doing something bad. We automatically judge him in that way because of our facts that we have in general, but not specifically to Father Flynn," he said.
The original production had such an impact that the play has recently been adapted into a screenplay that premiered just last week at the AFI Fest in Hollywood. The film was directed by Shanley and stars Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams. Even immediately after the initial screening, there was Oscar talk among critics.
Shanley also is well-known for writing and directing the 1990 adventurous comedy "Joe Versus the Volcano," as well as for writing several other stage plays and award-winning screenplays.
Marinda Anderson, who plays Mrs. Muller, enjoys performing in Juneau so much that she came all the way from her home in New York City for this production. She was previously involved with Perseverance in 2006 and has been living and performing in New York since then. She said there is great theater all over the country and she is always open to going anywhere, especially Juneau.
"I'm glad to be back," she said. "Perseverance is really solid. I've always respected the theater here. And it's a nice getaway from New York. The city is kind of crazy."
This is quite a small production for Perseverance, made up of only four actors. The troop said they are enjoying a break from the big crowd, though it makes rehearsals much more intense.
"It's tough, but it's good, and it's a very good group of people. They believe in the show and they want it to do well. They want to communicate the show to the audiences here in Juneau," Lagundino said.
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