Philadelphia Weekly

The People’s Light & Theatre Company concludes their 2008-’09 mainstage season with an admirable but flawed production of John Patrick Shanley’s one-act masterpiece Doubt: A Parable (previously titled Doubt). The play is a model of dramatic construction.

Set in the fall of 1964, the story takes place on the grounds of St. Nicholas, a Catholic church and school in the Bronx. A priest, Father Flynn (Pete Pryor), has taken an interest in the new altar boy, the first African-American student in a predominately Irish and Italian school.

Flynn reaches out to the isolated eighth-grader, a gesture that appears to be nothing more than an act of kindness. But the school’s stern principal Sister Aloysius (Ceal Phelan) suspects the boy is being sexually exploited by the priest. Her evidence is flimsy, yet she is undeterred in her quest to remove Flynn from his powerful position.

What made the Broadway production so thrilling was Shanley’s purposeful lack of answers. At the play’s conclusion we remained uncertain about Flynn’s guilt. Director David Bradley’s production is neither as mysterious nor compelling.

The seemingly compassionate Flynn represents change in the church and society at large. A progressive priest, he wants to introduce secular songs to the school’s Christmas pageant. Conversely, Phelan’s stern Sister Aloysius is like Attila the Nun. An unforgiving disciplinarian, she’s the guardian of the status quo.

Pryor gives a commanding performance as the accused priest. Unlike Aloysius, his Flynn is a man filled with doubt. “When you are lost you are not alone,” he sermonizes to the congregation. Instead of uncertainty, in doubt he finds strength and community.

The problem with PLTC’s production lies in Phelan’s performance. She communicates Aloysius’ determination forcefully, but no sense she cares for the boy. The result is that Aloysius seems cruel and vindictive, and instead of a mystery, the play becomes a witch hunt.

In the production’s most gripping moment, Aloysius meets with the boy’s mother (Melanye Finister in a strong performance). She presents her suspicions about Flynn, but instead of demanding Flynn be removed, the mother is grateful the priest has become her son’s protector.

Aloysius is shocked by the mother’s reaction, but she too is a protector. “In the pursuit of wrongdoing one steps away from God,” she tells the dedicated young Sister James (Elizabeth Webster Duke) with frightening conviction. Like the misguided politicians who hunted alleged communists in the 1940s and ’50s and later post-9/11 terrorists, Aloysius is willing to sacrifice anything—even the truth—in a zealous attempt to maintain her position of authority.

Since Doubt debuted in 2004, America has elected a president with a mandate for change, making this story even more relevant for theatergoers. Like Sister Aloysius, one suspects that the powerful guardians of the status quo will not step aside willingly as the nation moves forward.

Doubt, Through June 28. $29-48. People’s Light & Theatre Company, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern. 610.644.3500. peopleslight.org

Footlights

The Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian Theatre Festival is in full swing with all three of the Festival’s productions running on various stages at the Adrienne. 

Through June 26, the Adrienne’s Playground stage hosts the musical love story Bare: A Pop Opera. Helmed by Artistic Director Matthew Cloran, Bare focuses on two gay teenagers struggling to maintain their relationship in the unforgiving world of high school. The production stars John Jarboe (who made a splash in Quince Productions’ Passing By) and Nicholas Park, who delivered a touching performance in last summer’s R&J.

At the Adrienne’s Second Stage is Paula Vogel’s brilliant mix of illusion and reality And Baby Makes Seven, about a lesbian couple with an unusual family arrangement.

Running through June 27 at Second Stage is Tom W. Kelly’s fast-paced comedy Friends Are Forever, which concerns three gay couples and their struggles with friendships and the occasional infidelity. (J.C.R.)

Through June 27. $10-$60. Playground and Second Stage at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St. 215.627.6483. pgltf.org