{"id":11423,"date":"2016-02-26T08:57:40","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T13:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=11423"},"modified":"2016-02-26T09:10:25","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T14:10:25","slug":"doubt-a-parable-huntsville-theatre-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/doubt-a-parable-huntsville-theatre-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Doubt: A Parable will leave Huntsville audiences with more questions than answers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you have the courage of your convictions? It\u2019s one of the many questions the audience is asked to consider in Doubt: A Parable<\/em>, the latest production from the Huntsville Theatre Company.<\/p>\n

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Set in a Catholic school in 1960s America, it pits Sister Aloysius (Teal Cochrane), the severe and tradition-bound principal of the school, against Father Flynn (Greg Perras), a charismatic and progressive young priest. She relentlessly scrutinizes his actions, ultimately accusing him of molesting a young male student. Caught in the middle are young, innocent Sister James (Lauren Saunders) who is eager to serve her church and her students, and Mrs. Muller (Veronica Leonard), the young boy\u2019s mother, who is desperate to help her son gain a brighter future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a challenging play,\u201d said director Greg Hancock. \u201cIt challenges the actors, it challenges the director, and it challenges the audience. It\u2019s rich in ambiguity and potential. (Doubt<\/em>) is set in an uneasy time of transition. In many ways, Sister Aloysius is giving the students what she thinks they need \u2013 a fierce moral guardian \u2013 and she will do anything in her power to protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sister Aloysius (Teal Cochrane, right) confronts Father Flynn (Greg Perras) with Sister James (Lauren Saunders) as the scene’s uncomfortable witness<\/p><\/div>\n

The playwright, John Patrick Shanley, dedicated the play to \u2018the many orders of Catholic nuns who have devoted their lives to serving others in hospitals, schools and retirement homes. Though they have been much maligned and ridiculed, who among us has been so generous?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHe leaves all sorts of tiny clues all the way through,\u201d said Hancock. \u201cThis is not a play that attacks the church, it actually looks at the courage and conviction of the nuns and priests in the church. The challenge it explores is what happens when those convictions collide.\u201d<\/p>\n

That collision makes for some tense scenes \u2013 between Aloysius and Flynn, of course, but also between young Sister James and both of her older superiors as she is placed in an increasingly uncomfortable and discomfiting position.<\/p>\n

Greg Perras nails Flynn\u2019s conflicted desire to break free of the staunch church patriarchy while also using it to his advantage. Teal Cochrane portrays the severe Sister Aloysius to a tee, injecting a dose of humanity into her character\u2019s tough morals. Lauren Saunders invites empathy as Sister James retreats into confusion and discomfort, all the while hoping for the good in the people around her to reveal itself. And Veronica Leonard, as the proud Mrs. Muller, perfectly portrays the struggle of a mother who must choose between her son\u2019s present well-being and his future potential.<\/p>\n\n\t\t