Eastern Connecticut State University Performing Arts Department Theatre Sets Fall 2015 Season

Eastern Connecticut State University Performing Arts Department Theatre program will present John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, A Parable to be directed by Alycia Bright-Holland and which will run October 27-November 1, 2015 (Tuesday-Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 4pm in Harry Hope Theatre; Shafer Hall, ground floor; corner of High and Valley Streets, Willimantic, CT).

Doubt, A Parable won the Tony Award for Best Play, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, Drama Critics Circle Award, Obie Award for Playwriting, and the film version which was directed by Shanley won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay. Shanley is also an Academy Award winning writer (Moonstruck) and often draws from his real-life experiences as he revealed in a New York Times interview:

"A child in my family was molested by a priest," he said. "The parents went first to the local level, then up the chain of command to a highly placed church official, who took them by the hands and said: 'I'm so sorry this happened to you. I will take care of it.' And then he promoted him. They were so shocked that they left the church for 10 years. But they missed it, so they returned to a parish where the monsignor gave a sermon saying that with these church scandals it was the parents, not the clergy, who were responsible. They had to leave the church again."

Jon Simon of New York Magazine proffered in his review, "Doubt may well be Shanley's best play to date. It goes back to his days in a Catholic school in the Bronx run by Sisters of Charity, and while it does not seem patently autobiographical, eight years at that school surely left their mark on the playwright. Another influence must be the recent revelations of pederasty in the priesthood. But what makes the play particularly absorbing is its enlightened objectivity."

As Shanley stated in his NY Times 2004 interview, "And still another reason I wrote this play is that I'm very aware that debate has become the form of communication, like on 'Crossfire.' There is no room or value placed on doubt, which is one of the hallmarks of the wise man. It's getting harder and harder in this society to find a place for spacious, true intellectual exchange. It's all becoming about who won the argument, which is just moronic."

Tickets are free for Eastern students; $5 for other students and groups of 10 or more; $10 for Eastern faculty, staff, alumni, and senior citizens; and $15 for the general public. For reservations, please call the Harry Hope Theatre box office (860-465-5123) or email theatreboxoffice@easternct.edu.

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