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All photos © Richard
Hogle |
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DOUBT
A Parable
by
John Patrick Shanley
August
23 - September 16
Thurs. - Sat. 8 pm
Sun. 2 pm
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When
conscience confronts obedience,
something has
to give.
FUSION Theatre
Company opens its 2007-2008 season with the New Mexico
premiere of Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize
winning play Doubt, a parable, on
Thursday, August 23rd at 8:00 p.m at The Cell Theatre.
Opening night
features
a
catered reception by Ambrozia at 7:00 p.m. Reservations
are highly recommended.
| Due
to extremely high demand for tickets to DOUBT,
FUSION Theatre Company has added two shows
to our run! "We would add more," announced
Executive Director Dennis Gromelski, "but all
four actors are
in great demand and have other commitments
after our scheduled close date, September
16."
The two additional opportunities to see DOUBT are
Saturday, 9/15 at 2PM and Sunday, 9/16 at 6PM.
Patrons are highly encouraged to use
our new on-line ticketing to confirm availability
and to purchase tickets now. Just click here:
"We're
grateful to the actors, technicians and stage
manager and to Equity for permitting us to
add these
two
shows," Gromelski
added. |
The time is 1964. The Civil
Rights Act has just been implemented, riots erupt
in Harlem, the Vietnam War
is escalating, NASA is in a technological race with
the Soviet Union, Second Vatican Council convenes,
and the Berkeley Free Speech Movement explodes on
to the scene – the world seems to be moving
fast and furiously and many begin to doubt the world
of the past as well as what the world is becoming.
This is the year that sets Patrick Shanley’s
play Doubt. Described by Shanley
as a “parable,” his
play draws parallels with our contemporary post 9/11
world as it seems to be moving fast and furiously.
Focusing on a Catholic nun working within a parochial
school and her surfacing doubts about the relationship
between a young priest and a student, the play underscores
Shanley's idea that “deep down under the chatter
[of our time] we have come to a place where we know
that we don’t know…anything.”
Directed by Jacqueline Reid, Doubt comes
directly to Albuquerque from an extremely successful
run on
Broadway. The cast features FUSION favorites Ross
Kelly, Laurie Thomas, Rachel Tatum, and Angela Littleton.
Doubt continues through September
16th with Thursday through Saturday performances
at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday
matinees at 2:00 p.m. For tickets and information
call 766-9412 or go click "TIX" on the menu to the
left. Tickets are $25 for general admission, $20
for students
and
seniors (add $5 for gala opening night performance).
Thursday performances (excluding opening night) feature
a
$10 student
rush (with
valid
I.D.) and $18 actor rush (with professional resume.)
The first Sunday, August 26, is a pay-what-you-wish
performance. Group discounts are also available.
Free parking
is plentiful. The Cell is located at 700 1st St.
N.W. (just west of Broadway and south of Lomas.)
Click on "Location" menu item above for
a map.

"The best play I saw this
year was John Patrick Shanley's award-winning Doubt with
the FUSION Company at the Cell. Under Jacqueline
Reid's direction, each of the four cast members
gave a memorable performance in a complicated
and challenging play.
In her single scene, Angela
Littleton was haunting and compelling. As a
naive nun, Rachel Tatum had to do a lot of
reacting, and she was convincing in her character's
growing concern for the ugly innuendos at the
heart of the play. Laurie Thomas conveyed so
much as the strict parochial school principal— foibles
and faults, strength and dedication. Ross Kelly's
striking face virtually shone above his character's
clerical collar. Kelly combined charm, anger,
indignation and hurt in his complex characterization.
It was his best performance to date."
Barry Gaines, year-end summary, Albuquerque
Journal
Barry Gaines, review, August 26, 2007 (on-line), Albuquerque
Journal:
"On the day when letters were published indicating that Sister Teresa was
plagued with uncertainties of faith all through her saintly life, FUSION Theatre
Company opened the regional premiere of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt. It
is an unpretentious but brilliantly constructed play that examines the relationship
of doubt and faith in a Catholic setting.
In 2005 Doubt won five
Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; the FUSION production at the
Cell is, I believe, Albuquerque’s best
of the year. Doubt is a four-character
play set in St. Nicholas Catholic Church and
School in the Bronx in 1964. Handsome, charismatic
Father Flynn preaches
parabolic sermons and coaches basketball. Sister James is a passionate teacher
anxious to connect with her students and convey her enthusiasm for history.
Sister Aloysius is the school principal, a firm
disciplinarian who favors formality
and distance in the classroom. Sister Aloysius questions the motives for Father
Flynn’s interest in Donald Muller, the school’s only Negro student,
and enlists Sister James in a campaign to spy out the truth of the relationship.
Donald’s mother is questioned by Sister Aloysius. The insightfully crafted
script moves intelligently from scene to scene, subtly suggesting without providing
easy answers. Not until the play’s last words is the story complete.
And that is all the plot you will get from me.
FUSION founding member Jacqueline
Reid directs this production with clean,
deft strokes. Richard K. Hogle’s set and lighting designs allow the
action to move smoothly from the Principal’s office—featuring
a desk and chair with a large wooden cross behind—to the flanking pulpit
and garden bench. Coincidently, the two nuns are in Sister Teresa’s
order, the Sisters of Charity, and Cassidy Zachary costumes them in black
bonnets and floor-length
habits.
All four actors are brilliant. In her single
scene, Angela Littleton as Mrs. Muller is haunting
and compelling. A fierce advocate for her son,
Littleton’s
character spars with Sister Aloysius. As naïve Sister James, Rachel
Tatum has to do a lot of reacting, and she is convincing in her character’s
growing concern for the ugly innuendos. Ross Kelly makes an ideal Father
Flynn. His striking
face virtually shines above his clerical collar and his passionate commitment
to his vocation is palpable. Kelly combines charm, anger, indignation, and
hurt in his complex character. It is his best performance to date. Laurie
Thomas has
taken the full measure of Sister Aloysius. Thomas conveys her character’s
foibles and faults without lapsing into caricature, and she is equally adept
at suggesting the nun’s strengths and dedication. The result is a fascinating,
full creation.
Playwright Shanley sent Director Reid a congratulatory
email for opening night; he would have approved
of the performance and the standing
ovation.
See Doubt.”
Amy Dalness, review, Weekly Alibi:
"No one can tell a sinner just by looking at his face. At least, not most
people and not most faces. Sin has a way of making itself look attractive, appealing,
sexy; and some sinners know how to wear that appeal as a mask, hiding their true
nature.
That allure is what make sinners such excellent
literary characters, full of unknown motives,
personal convictions and nondescript torment.
John Patrick
Shanley
takes that person and puts him into the heart of the Catholic Church in Doubt,
a play that questions what we think we see.
The FUSION Theatre Company's regional
premiere of Doubt at The Cell begins with a dark stage and
a soft folksy-rock song, allowing the audience members to clear
their minds. As the song ends, the lights come up and the friendly, attractive
face of Father Flynn (Ross Kelly) smiles warmly at his congregation from behind
the pulpit. Father Flynn delivers a moving sermon about loneliness and doubt,
setting the tone and theme that continues throughout the story.
Sitting under
the bold wooden cross above her desk, Sister Aloysius (Laurie Thomas), principal
of St. Nicholas Church School in the Bronx, is visited by one of her
eighth grade teachers, Sister James (Rachel Tatum). Sister Aloysius uses this
unexpected visit to question Sister James about the goings on in her class,
particularly if Sister James had noticed any
strange behavior relating to Father Flynn. The
young and inexperienced Sister James is flustered and put off by Sister Aloysius'
old-fashioned views of discipline and order, and even more put off by Aloysius'
absolute conviction that Father Flynn is hiding a dirty secret. Sister James
eventually recalls smelling alcohol on the breath of Donald Muller, the school's
first and only black student, after a meeting with Father Flynn. Sister Aloysius
seizes this evidence and begins her journey to uncover the truth—for the
sake of the children, no matter the cost—including questioning Donald's
mother (Angela Littleton) and the man of the cloth himself.
Doubt is a masterfully
written play and has garnered the accolades to prove it, including four Tony
awards, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best
Play of the Season and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, just to name a few. Shanley
has created four incredibly different and rich characters. As new evidence
is found or an explanation given in Doubt,
it's impossible to place faith and support
onto any one character long, for as surely as the next scene begins another
character appeals to that trust (making the play's
title work on many incredible levels).
Because the characters are so strong, it takes strong actors to portray them,
and, by god, the FUSION Theatre Company found some.
As the first actor on stage,
Ross Kelly immediately sells the audience on his charm and charisma. Kelly
delivers the kind of sermon that would draw crowds
to any church at 8 a.m. Sunday morning. He's gripping, delightful and believable
to a sickening level, especially as his character comes under more and more
suspicion
for wrongdoing.
Opposing Father Flynn's immediate likability
is Sister Aloysius' immediate dislikability.
Laurie Thomas’ presentation of the strict schoolmarm your mother always
told you about when you were being particularly naughty is spot on without being
melodramatic. Sister Aloysius' unwavering faith would take beating after beating,
yet Thomas keep her conviction fresh while hinting at a deep suffering just under
the surface.
Rachel Tatum's innocent Sister James seemed
ready to burst from embarrassment, uncertainty,
passion and unwavering goodness at any moment.
Where Thomas hid
Sister Aloysius' warmth under her black tunic, Tatum wears it gleaming on her
face. Sister James deals with doubt of her own, and Tatum doesn't shy away
from the consequences of that doubt.
While Angela Littleton’s Mrs. Muller is
only on stage for one scene, it's heated and tense. Littleton's reserve and
poise while under pressure from Sister
Aloysius makes the moments when the facade of niceties slink away chilling,
wrenching and desperate. For a moment, Sister
Aloysius seemed small, and that's an accomplishment.
While
anyone involved in theater will say no performance
is ever perfect, it's
hard to find a flaw in Doubt. The performances were fantastic,
the costuming and set design dynamic, the directorial choices complemented
a masterful script
and there wasn't an empty seat in the house. Call ahead and reserve your seats—unlike
church, there's not always room for everyone."
Jim Terr, review, KUNM-FM 89.9:
"I remember the name “John Patrick Shanley” as the writer of
the Oscar-wining 1988 film, “Moonstruck.” I wasn’t as fond
of it as most people, so when I saw that Shanley was the writer of a Pulitzer-
and Tony-award-winning play called Doubt: A Parable, enjoying a
sold-out run at the Cell Theater, I said to myself, “Well, maybe that’s
why; maybe Shanley is actually more of a playwright than a screenwriter.”
But it turns out that Shanley has in fact had little recognition as a playwright,
for his nearly 30 plays written in the past couple of decades. That is, until
he wrote Doubt.
Twisted logic aside, seeing FUSION Theater Company’s production of Doubt is
one of those peak theater experiences where a brilliantly crafted and engaging
work is executed by an essentially perfect cast of wonderfully skilled actors,
beautifully directed.
The setting is a parochial school in the 1960s, long before the priestly molestation
scandals exploded publicly -- but obviously not before the activity was in progress.
A scandal is brewing at St. Nicholas Church School. But is it really? Is the
handsome father Flynn having his way with a particularly vulnerable young student,
or is the highly analytical and controlling Sister Aloysius simply letting her
imagination and her own bitterness run wild?
Hmmm it’s not real clear, and this fine line of Doubt keeps the audience
engaged and in suspense as much as even the best murder mystery might do – perhaps
even more so. What’s at stake here is reputation, a child’s life,
and reality itself.
Ross Kelly plays the earnest, attractive and appealing Father Flynn. Appealing,
that is, to everyone but the suspicious Sister Aloysius, played with razor-keen
intensity by Laurie Thomas. The sincere Sister James (Rachel Tatum) doesn’t
know quite what to believe, and just wishes all the turmoil and confusion would
go away. “You would trade anything for a warm look,” Sister Aloysius
admonishes her. Ouch!
In the middle of all this the child’s mother, Mrs. Muller, visits the school
for a conference with Sister Aloysius, who as always has an agenda which reveals
itself only after a snakelike few minutes of intense coiling before the strike.
But Mrs. Muller, a flawless Angela Littleton, has a few surprises herself hidden
under her at-first-compliant veneer, and the struggle and maneuvering between
these two powerful, determined women is breathtaking.
It’s also on a strangely different note from the rest of the play, and
it was interesting to read that this scene was actually the initial inspiration,
the original vision, from which Shanley wrote the rest of Doubt.
FUSION is an Equity theater company, a professional designation which unfortunately
carries with it a relatively high admission price, but for those who are able,
Doubt is a powerful and unforgettable performance. Extra performances may be
added to accommodate the tremendous response to this production; call the Cell
Theater at 766-9412 or visit FusionAbq.org for ticket information."
Christopher Isherwood, review, New
York Times:
"Doubt is as
deeply, if subtly, imbued with ideas of larger
resonance as any play to be seen on Broadway
in the last decade. Mr. Shanley has an abiding
belief that theater, despite its marginal status
in popular culture
(or, paradoxically, because of it), can illuminate
ethical and spiritual questions that are of both
immediate and eternal relevance."
David Rooney, review, variety.com:
"The extraordinary concision of Shanley's
ideas is matched by the skill with which he builds
suspense and metes out unexpected doses of humor
and compassion. In particular to audiences now
familiar with the plot mechanics -- the nun's
witch-hunt, the bristling faceoffs, the ultimately
hollow victory -- what emerges most remarkably
is the playwright's refusal to judge his characters
in any way, regardless of their flaws."
Nella Vera, review, culturevulture.net:
"Doubt is a spellbinding and expertly written new play
from John Patrick Shanley. In a season awash with tepid revivals, over-amplified
musicals, and Hollywood stars doing their “legit” gigs, Doubt renews
your faith in the theater with an excellent story that keeps you guessing to
the end...."
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bet! I'd like to be reminded of coming
events! |
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Show Status
Buy your tickets NOW!
Thurs, 8/23, SOLD
OUT!
Friday, 8/24, 8PM
Saturday, 8/25, 8PM
Sunday, 8/26, SOLD OUT!
Thurs, 8/30, SOLD OUT!
Friday, 8/31, SOLD OUT!
Saturday, 9/1, SOLD OUT!
Sunday, 9/2, SOLD OUT!
Thurs, 9/6, SOLD OUT!
Friday, 9/7, SOLD OUT!
Saturday, 9/8, SOLD OUT!
Sunday, 9/9, SOLD OUT!
Thurs, 9/13, 8PM
SOLD OUT!
Friday, 9/14, SOLD OUT!
Saturday, 9/15, SOLD
OUT!
Saturday, 9/15, 8PM
SOLD OUT!
Sunday, 9/16, 2PM (matinee) SOLD OUT!
Sunday, 9/16, 6PM
SOLD OUT!
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