In the Dutchess County Spotlight

Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty. All the elements come invigoratingly together like clockwork in John Patrick Shanley's provocative play, DOUBT, A Parable.  This gripping story of suspicion cast on a priest's behavior that is less about scandal than about fascinatingly nuanced questions of moral certainty. The play was made into a movie in 2008 starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis - all of whom, along with the screenplay, were nominated for Academy Awards. 

Set in the fictional St. Nicholas Church School in the Bronx during the fall of 1964, DOUBT concerns an older nun, Sister Aloysius, who does not approve of teachers offering friendship and compassion over the discipline she feels students need in order to face the harsh world.  When she suspects a new priest, Father Flynn, of sexually abusing a student, she is faced with the prospect of charging him with unproven allegations and possibly destroying his career as well as her own.  To help build her case she asks for help from an idealistic young nun, Sister James, who finds her faith in compassion challenged, and Mrs. Muller, the mother of the accused boy, who is protective of her son, the first African-American student ever admitted to St. Nicholas.

"The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question, and by seeking we may come upon the truth." ~Pierre Abelard

Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award, the production is directed by Nicola Sheara. The cast includes Thom Webb as Father Flynn, Zsuzsa Manna as Sister Aloysius, Emily DePew as Sister James and Jhanae Bonnick as Mrs. Muller. 

The title tells it all - nothing is certain and everything is suspect. The show opnes on Friday, September 28 - and runs through Sunday, October 14. To open up this transfixing drama to the widest audience possible, the Center is offering "pay what you will" at the door on Friday nights; space is limited.

For reservations, call The CENTER's box office at (845) 876-3080 or go online at www.centerforperformingarts.org.

The CENTER, a non-profit arts and education organization, is located at 661 Route 308, three miles east of the village center in Rhinebeck.