Review: 'Doubt, A Parable'

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BY LARRLY L. KUBERT / For the Lincoln Journal Star

The Nebraska Repertory Theatre’s second production of the summer, John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt, A Parable,” is drama intent upon raising questions.

The 90-minute production, which is performed without an intermission, is a study in black and white,  a multi-layered exploration of opposites that is in some ways obvious, in others, nuanced.

Set in a Catholic church and school in the mid-1960s, the plot follows the suspicions of the school’s principal, Sister Aloysius (Judith K. Hart), that a priest, Father Flynn (Sean Schmeits), is involved inappropriately with one of the school’s male students.

Playwright Shanley establishes a dichotomy of beliefs and values between the strict and detached Sister Aloysius and the friendly and forward-thinking Father Flynn.

But the diversity is carried forth into several other references — good battling evil; black habits and white vestments.

When Sister Aloysius urges the younger Sister James (Stephanie Dodd) not to be so trusting, is she not also urging the speculation of faith, or in other words, her own religion?

Is Sister Aloysius’ covering of shrubs to protect them from potential frost a metaphor for the cloaking and suppressive blanketing of her young charges?

Rebellion against the dominance by the church’s male priesthood over female nuns is another possible consideration.

And is her crusade against evil motivated by the loss of her husband fighting against Adolph Hitler, such that she becomes a nun and searches for any hint of the sinister?

Director Jennifer Hubbard is blessed with a cast that seemingly does no wrong.

Hart owns the role of Sister Aloysius, effortlessly melding the nun’s coldness and impersonality, but at the same time executing tiny glimmers of dry humor.

Calm and mellifluous, Schmeits crafts a Father Flynn who seems  beyond such damning considerations.

Nice support comes from Dodd as the insecure and impressionable Sister James, with Tiffiney Kavanaugh turning in an exacting performance as the mother of the suspected abuse victim.

In the end, the play offers no definitive resolution to the question of whether something happened or not. Doubt perseveres no matter what one decides is reality.