A A A A Search :
Toledo Talk   (musing about Lake Erie West and beyond)
• About the playwright
• About the play
• Awards
• Reviews
• References
From jr's workspace   

Harvest Theatre to perform 'Doubt: A Parable' -- maybe
We are excited to announce that "Doubt, A Parable" will be performed at 1811 Adams St. in uptown Toledo. You may recognize this venue as being the closed "Frame Shop" just up from Manos and Manhattans on Adams Street. Look for our signs in the window! As a special 'thank you' all seats on Preview weekend (Oct 20, 21) will be $10.

October 15 update on the Harvest Theatre Web site :

Due to circumstances beyond the control of Harvest Theatre of Toledo, we find ourselves not allowed to perform at our chosen venue of 425 Jefferson St.

While we are still planning on mounting "Doubt, A Parable" within the next two weeks, we just are not sure WHERE yet. Thankfully, there are a couple of really fine folks who have stepped to the forefront and have asked us to consider their venues as possibilities.

Please keep an eye posted on this site and we will inform you as soon as we have a venue.

About the playwright

For his script for the 1987 film, Moonstruck, John Patrick Shanley won the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.1 Shanley has written over 20 stage plays.

Shanley is from the Bronx. He was thrown out of St. Helena's kindergarten. He was banned from St. Anthony's hot lunch program for life. He was expelled from Cardinal Spellman High School. He was placed on academic probation by New York University and instructed to appear before a tribunal if he wished to return. When asked why he had been treated in this way by all these institutions, he burst into tears and said he had no idea. Then he went into the United States Marine Corps.2

In 2004 Shanley was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame.1

About the play

Doubt opened off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club on November 23, 2004, and transferred to the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway in March 2005. When it closed July 2, 2006, it had run 525 performances and 25 previews, making it the fifth longest running play on Broadway in the preceding 10 years.3

The story: In this brilliant and powerful drama, Sister Aloysius, a Bronx school principal, takes matters into her own hands when she suspects the young Father Flynn of improper relations with one of the male students.4

Awards

Reviews

References

1 Wikipedia: John Patrick Shanley

2 Doubt: A Parable - paperback

3 Wikipedia: Doubt

4 Dramatists Play Service: Doubt

created by jr on Oct 17, 2007 at 04:35:33 am
updated by jr on Oct 22, 2007 at 01:16:56 pm     Comments: 4

print      source      versions

tags: event   art   theatre   

Related articles
Oliver House art gallery and theatre grand opening - Apr 10, 2008
Beckett play 'Waiting for Godot' this weekend at Monroe CCC - Oct 17, 2007
Free Shakespeare at Ottawa Park - Sep 13, 2007
Artists and Authors Afternoon 2008 - Aug 21, 2008
March 2008 Theatre Schedule - Mar 28, 2008
more >>

Comments ... #

Oct 19 update on the Harvest Theatre Web site :

We are excited to announce that "Doubt, A Parable" will be performed at 1811 Adams St. in uptown Toledo. You may recognize this venue as being the closed "Frame Shop" just up from Manos and Manhattans on Adams Street. Look for our signs in the window! As a special 'thank you' all seats on Preview weekend (Oct 20, 21) will be $10.

posted by jr on Oct 19, 2007 at 01:27:48 am     #



Apparently, the reason why Harvest Theatre had to abruptly change their theatre location was because the fire inspector never showed at The Secor Building even though the inspection was scheduled weeks ago. But hey, we're suppose to believe the City supports the arts.

posted by jr on Oct 22, 2007 at 12:07:02 pm     #



I attended Saturday evening's preview performance, and I thought it went fine despite a few kinks. It was only the second time the group had been in the old Frame Shop building. The nice thing about live theatre is that the performances usually get better the more the play is performed. The Harvest Theatre has added an extra weekend of performances, so the play runs through November 2.

The play is a good story. I really liked the Sister Aloysius character. The play is about 90 minutes long with no intermission.

The Frame Shop building provides a cozy atmosphere, so you're close to the action. The place seats about 60 people. I like theatre setups where you're close to the stage like at the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea. When I was in Pittsburgh a couple weekends ago, I attended a sold-out play in a small, black box theatre that sat 73 people. I wish Toledo opened up a couple more small theatres. Adams Street might make a good location for a mini theatre district. I think that area of Adams Street was more vibrant five or six years ago.

posted by jr on Oct 22, 2007 at 12:50:12 pm     #



Nov 1, 2007 Toledo Blade review about 'Doubt' :

I saw John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, A Parable five days ago, and I'm still not sure what I think about it. Not the Harvest Theatre production; it is uniformly excellent.

Rather, I'm having trouble deciding which side I'm on, such is the power of Shanley's Pulitzer Prize-winning work. Basically, Doubt is about a priest accused of molesting a child. Maybe he did it, or maybe the accusations are unfounded. Shanley presents a lot of information and allows the audience to be the jury.

Kyle Kutchenriter, a 2005 graduate of the University of Findlay's theater performance program, is charismatic as the young priest who aches to make religion relevant to the people he serves. Kimberly Yost, who was a hoot last year as the title character in Harvest's Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge, is perfect as the domineering Sister Aloysius, whose sparing smiles are as terrifying as her righteous outrage.

Jennifer Holman and Felicia Hill, who also were in Mrs. Bob Cratchit, connect the most with the audience. Holman's Sister James is an innocent who wants to believe the best of everyone, and Hill's Mrs. Muller has a painful awareness of how the world works and has come to terms with the need to compromise.

The terrible beauty of Doubt is that Shanley supplies no answers. And if the play is about the Catholic Church, its lessons easily can be carried over to the lives of every man and woman, whether they are religious or not.

Don't be so quick to judge, Doubt is saying. Even if you do have all the information, you may not have all the answers.

posted by jr on Nov 01, 2007 at 02:22:12 pm     #