An older nun’s hard “certainty” pushes against a popular, easy-going priest in John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Doubt, A Parable.

When the play was first staged in 2004, it drew on the sexual scandals in the Catholic church and the very real doubts about the line between compassion and transgression.

PTD Productions is staging Doubt, A Parable Feb. 13-15 and 18-21 at the Riverside Arts Center in Ypsilanti.

The play opens with Father Flynn presenting his Sunday homily to the congregation. His theme is doubt, and like Jesus, he uses parables to make abstract ideas easy to understand.

“Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty,” he tells his congregation.

Director Josiah Jackson writes in his director’s note of the play's theme, “It’s a story much simpler and smaller than our real world, a fictional place where one could find certainty, wrapped in a nice package with a crisp bow on top, but that is not what this story does. Instead of offering certainty, this play asks us to consider that doubt is, in fact, not something to run from, but rather to embrace.”

The setting is the Bronx, St. Nicholas Catholic Church and school, 1964, almost a year after the assassination of President John Kennedy. 

Sister Aloysius, principal of the school, invites the young nun Sister James to her office. They chat, and Sister James mentions some things she’s heard or seen that have troubled her about Father Flynn. Sister Aloysius dislikes the new pastor and is happy to tell Sister James that she is certain that there’s something wrong with Father Flynn.

Sister Aloysius is concerned about Father Flynn’s “special” relationship with the only black student in the school. Sister Aloysius calls the boy’s mother for a meeting about Father Flynn and her son. After a lot of speculation, the mother defends Father Flynn and the support he has given her son in the face of all the trouble he’s had at school and the abusive attacks by his father.

Marie Jones plays Sister Aloysius, a difficult role. The older sister is at first driven to her belief that the priest is guilty of a mortal sin, and she will do anything to have him removed from the church. As the play moves forward, Jones gets to balance the nun’s certainty against her latent doubt.

Zach Hebert plays Father Flynn, a rigorous coach with the boy students. Hebert has a strong voice and creates a credible portrayal of a dedicated priest. His character is itself a matter of doubt. Flynn defends himself against his enemy, but he backs away from challenging her and instead requests a move to another (and more upscale) parish. Hebert’s hesitation suggests nothing but raises doubt.

Katie Young plays Sister James, the young nun who unwittingly creates the conflict. Young brings both spirit and anxious exasperation in her confrontations with her senior nun. Young also brings some humor to the character, who is a bit shy, a bit awkward, and truly concerned.

Weena Ekechukwu gives a full-throated performance as Donald Muller’s mother. She gives a clear and troubled account of her son’s problems at the school, the kindness of the priest, and the problems of her family. All of this comes to life in Ekechukwu’s performance.

The war of certainty and doubt is probably more relevant now than it was when Shanley’s play was first performed. As Father Flynn says, doubt is a good thing—there is a power in not knowing.

Hugh Gallagher has written theater and film reviews over a 40-year newspaper career and was most recently the managing editor of the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers in suburban Detroit.   

PTD Productions' staging of John Patrick Shanley’s "Doubt, A Parable" continues Feb 13-15 and 18-21 at the Riverside Art Center, 76 North Huron Street, Ypsilanti. For tickets and information, visit ptdproductions.com.