DOUBT: A PARABLE Comes to The Gamm Next Month

The Gamm Will Close Season 39 with John Patrick Shanley's Doubt: A Parable. This riveting and timely drama explores the precarious relationship between truth and ambiguity, moral certainty and doubt. Gamm Associate Artistic Director Rachel Walshe helms The Gamm's production of this Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the play's off-Broadway debut.

Doubt: A Parable runs May 9-June 2 at The Gamm Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick, R.I. Tickets: $55-$65; preview performances (May 9-12) just $38 at 401-723-4266 or gammtheatre.org/doubt. Information about Friday night pay-what-you-wish tickets, as well as discounts for seniors, students, groups and more at gammtheatre.org/discounts.

Set in turbulent 1960s America, Doubt: A Parable centers on the power struggle between a stoic Catholic school principal and a charismatic parish priest. When Sister Aloysius (Phyllis Kay, Rose in The Children) suspects Father Flynn (Benjamin Grills, Dr. Joseph Cardin in The Children's Hour) of wrongdoing with a troubled student, the stage is set for a clash of traditional and progressive values. Shanley's taut and suspenseful script will keep audiences guessing and second-guessing through to the play's final line.

Walshe said the play is particularly relevant in this age when it's hard to distinguish fact from fiction, particularly in the face of authority.

“We are living in a time when absolutes and rigid moral certainty abound,” Walshe said. “I can think of no better play to revisit than Doubt, which asks us not to only engage deeply with feelings of uncertainty but to reframe the experience of doubt as a virtue.”

ABOUT DOUBT: A PARABLE

St. Nicholas Church School in the Bronx, 1964. Sister Aloysius, the school's principal, starts to question Father Flynn's ambiguous relationship with a troubled young man — the school's first Black student. As the progressive priest and traditional nun are drawn into a battle of wills, motivations are challenged, and alliances are formed with possibly irreversible consequences. Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award, this riveting psychological drama raises more questions than it answers. On the 20th anniversary of its off-Broadway premiere, Shanley's engrossing parable about the perils of moral certainty is more current and necessary than ever.

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