Boston College Theatre Department and Robsham Theater Arts Center Present DOUBT, 2/1-5

The Boston College Theatre Department continues the 30th anniversary season of the University's Robsham Theater Arts Center with John Patrick Shanley's acclaimed play Doubt, a parable, the first production of the spring semester.

Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award for Best Play, Doubt-directed by BC Associate Professor of Theatre John Houchin-will be performed in Robsham's Bonn Studio February 1-5, 2012.

Doubt takes place in 1964 in a Catholic elementary school in the Bronx where its stern principal, Sister Aloysius Beauvier, suspects parish priest and gym teacher Father Brendan Flynn of misconduct with an African-American school boy. She enlists young, idealistic teacher Sister James in her investigation, and the result is one of the most powerful and riveting American dramas of the 21st century, according to play organizers. It engages audiences on numerous levels, they note, provoking both emotional responses and triggering thought about difficult moral questions.

"It's exactly the play we should be doing at Boston College," says BC Theatre Department Chair Scott T. Cummings. "I like to call it a 'theological thriller.' It's suspenseful while you watch it and it leaves a lot to talk about when it's over. Yes, it's topical because of recent child sexual abuse scandals, but that's not really what it's about. It's about the difficulty of knowing with certainty. What makes us so sure that what we think is true really is true?"

The cast of Doubt features Deirdre McCourt '12 as Sister Aloysius; Timothy Kopacz '13 as Father Flynn; Kasey Brown '12 as Sister James and Nzinga Williams '12 as play Mrs. Muller, the boy's mother.

"This play poses a formidable challenge to student actors," says Houchin. "It confronts disturbing questions that involve conflicts of conscience and colliding realities. The character work has to be both honest and nuanced."

The creative team for the BC production includes Theatre Department faculty members Crystal Tiala (scenic design) and Jacqueline Dalley (costume design). Robsham Theater Arts Center Director Howard Enoch serves as lighting designer and John Delfino '12 serves as sound designer.

Doubt, a parable runs Wednesday, February 1 through Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 2 p.m. in Bonn Studio of the Robsham Theater Arts Center.

Tickets, now available online, are $10 for students, seniors, BC faculty and staff. General admission is $15. All tickets are available through the Robsham Theater Arts Center Box Office by calling 617.552.4002 or by visiting www.bc.edu/theatre.

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