There’s No Doubt About It
Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Doubt makes Cleveland debut at The Play House
CLEVELAND (February 7, 2008) – DOUBT: A Parable, one of the most celebrated American plays in years, makes its Northeast Ohio debut in the Drury Theatre at The Cleveland Play House at 85th and Euclid beginning February 29 and runs through March 23, 2008.
A creation of John Patrick Shanley, the same writer of the Academy Award-winning motion picture Moonstruck, Doubt received its world premiere in 2004 at the Manhattan Theatre Club. The play then transferred to Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theatre and ran for three years. In 2005, Doubt was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Drama Desk Award and Tony Award for Best Play, the most important awards that a play can receive.
Presented in one act at The Play House, Doubt is “essentially a two act play,” says Seth Gordon, Cleveland Play House Associate Artistic Director and Doubt director. “The first act takes place on the stage and the second act happens in the car on the drive home.”
“I'm terribly excited to be working on this play. The cast and I are finding it to be as efficient, tightly structured and well written a play as any of us have seen,” says Gordon. “The play questions our own doubt and our sense of certainty – questions we ask of each other, our parents, our politicians – but not of ourselves enough.”
While Doubt is new to Cleveland, the world will know this work in late 2008 when the movie, Doubt, starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman opens in movie theaters.
ABOUT DOUBT
The year is 1964 and the Catholic Church is at a crossroads. Sister Aloysius, the principal of St. Nicholas School in the Bronx, believes her students should not be coddled. Father Flynn, the pastor, believes that the clergy should be members of the family and more accessible to parishioners. The two come into conflict when Sister Aloysius begins to suspect Father Flynn of having an inappropriate relationship with one of the students, an eighth grade boy.
When Sister Aloysius consults with the boy’s teacher, Sister James, she reluctantly confesses her suspicions to the principal, hoping to stay out of it and continue to see teaching children in a more innocent light. Armed with what she sees as confirmation from Sister James, Aloysius begins a ruthless pursuit of the truth, and the play comes to a boiling point as she confronts the popular and charismatic Flynn. As Father Flynn asks at the beginning of this story of morality and faith, “What do you do when you’re not sure?”
ABOUT THE CAST
BARBARA ANDRES (Sister Aloysius) has performed on Broadway in Cabaret, A Delicate Balance, Kiss of the Spider Woman , Doonesbury, On Golden Pond, Rex, Rodgers and Hart, The Boy Friend and Jimmy; and off-Broadway in In Fireworks Lie Secret Codes, Lincoln Center (Vivian Beaumont Theater); Arms and the Man, Roundabout Theatre; The Landscape of the Body, The Public Theatre; Company, York Theatre Company; On the Verge, N.Y. Directors Workshop; Marathon: Fore/Ripe Banana, Ensemble Studio Theatre; Our Town, All The Way Home, The Audience, Transport Group; and Meshuhah, Naked Angels Theater Company. Her regional theatre credits include performances at The Guthrie Theatre, Arena Stage, American Repertory Theatre, Denver Center Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, McCarter Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House, Intiman Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Gateway Playhouse, Pioneer Theatre Company, Westport Playhouse, Walnut Street Theatre, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Olney Theatre and Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Ms. Andres has appeared on television in “The Sopranos,” “Damages,” “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Law and Order: Criminal Intent,” “All My Children,” “Third Watch,” “ABC After School Special,” “Dellaventura” and “As the World Turns.” She has appeared in several feature films including What About Bob?, 13 Conversations About 1 Thing , Random Hearts, The Yards, and After the Storm.
MICHAEL FREDERIC (Father Brendan Flynn) has performed off-Broadway in Night Over Taos, Thorny Bushes, INTAR; Vampire University, No Meat No Irony, Ohio Theatre; Expressing Willie, West End Theatre; Irish, The Little Theatre; and The Sky Over Ninevah, HERE. His regional theatre credits include roles at PlayMakers Repertory Company, Public Theatre of Maine, Stageworks/Hudson, Saratoga Springs Shakespeare Festival and Open Stage of Harrisburg. Mr. Frederic has appeared on television in “One Life to Live” and in the film Patch Adams. He earned an MFA from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
JENNIFER RUFFNER (Sister James) is a native of Akron, Ohio and has several Cleveland-area acting credits including The Children’s Hour, Lobby Hero, Parade, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Proposals, Beck Center for the Arts; WAIT!, TITLEWave Theatre; Six Degrees of Separation, Charenton Theatre Company; Twelfth Night, Julius Ceasar, Henry IV parts 1 & 2, Cleveland Shakespeare Festival; V-E Day, Dobama Theatre; Herbal Bed, Actors Summit Theater; and The Sweepers, Ensemble Theatre. Ms. Ruffner holds a BFA from Hofstra University.
CHERENE SNOW (Mrs. Muller) has performed off-Broadway in Walking Down Broadway, Mint Theatre; The Last of the Thorntons, Signature Theatre; and I See Fire in the Dead Man’s Eyes, Theatre Row. Her regional theatre credits include roles at TheaterWorks, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, George Street Playhouse, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Two River Theatre, Contemporary American Theater Festival, and Court Theatre. Ms. Snow has appeared on television in “The Jury,” “Third Watch,” “Law and Order,” “Chappelle’s Show,” “L.A. Doctors,” “Reasonable Doubt,” “Beyond Belief,” “Caroline in the City,” “The Drew Carey Show” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” She has appeared on film in My Sassy Girl, Goodbye Baby, City of Angels, The Long Walk Home, Sweet Potato Ride, Out of Darkness and Three Windows. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in theatre from Illinois State University.
DIRECTION AND DESIGN
JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY (Playwright) is from the Bronx, New York. 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. For his script for the 1987 film, Moonstruck, Shanley won the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. In 2004 Shanley was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame. He also was the writer and director for the 1990 film Joe Versus the Volcano. In 2005, the play Doubt was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Drama Desk Award and Tony Award for Best Play.
SETH GORDON (Director) is Associate Artistic Director of the Cleveland Play House. CPH: Dinner with Friends, Proof, Forest City (world premiere), Vincent in Brixton, Tuesdays with Morrie, A Christmas Story, The Wind in the Willows, RFK, Of Mice and Men, Ferdinand the Bull; this season, The Chosen, A Christmas Story CLEVELAND: Dobama Theatre, Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, Beck Center for the Arts NEW YORK: Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Theatre for the New City, many others REGIONAL: Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Bay Street Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre INTERNATIONAL: Arabic premiere of Our Town in Cairo EDUCATION: High School of Performing Arts in New York and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh OTHER CREDITS: Mr. Gordon previously served as Literary Manager and then as Associate Producer of Primary Stages in New York. He has also directed and lectured at various universities, including Case Western Reserve University. He received the Northern Ohio Live Awards for excellence in theatre in 2004 and 2006. He considers himself a lucky man.
RUSSELL PARKMAN (Scenic Designer) CPH: Rabbit Hole NEW YORK CITY: Shylock, Perry Street Theatre; The Gravity of Means, Manhattan Class Company; Uncle Vanya, La Cucaracha; The Sunday Promenade, The Game of Love, Rain, Some Fish, No Elephants, New Theatre of Brooklyn; Rules of Love, BACA; A Raisin in the Sun, John Jay College REGIONAL: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Portland Center Stage, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Geva Theatre, Weston Playhouse, Playmakers Repertory Company, Municipal Theatre of St. Louis, North Shore Music Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Denver Center School, Yale Repertory Theatre, Ohio Northern University, Santa Fe Stages, Sage Theatre, Dallas Shakespeare Festival, Undermain Theatre, New Mexico Repertory Theatre, El Teatro Campesino OPERA: The Turn of the Screw, Memphis Opera; Carmen, Santa Fe Stages; I Pagliacci, Skylight Opera INTERNATIONAL: Don Juan Flamenco, Spain; Blind Lemon, Paris; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Molly Sweeney, Teater Ibsen, Norway; Three Sisters (Columbia)
JEFFREY VAN CURTIS (Costume Designer/Costume Shop Manager) CPH: As You Like It, I am My Own Wife, Heartbreak House, Rounding Third, Hurlyburly, Hay Fever, Proof, Dinner With Friends, Art, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Anansi the Spider CLEVELAND: Great Lakes Festival, Lyric Opera of Cleveland, Cain Park, Cleveland-San Jose Ballet REGIONAL: Coconut Grove Playhouse, Studio Arena Theatre, Music Theatre North EDUCATION: MFA, Costume Design and Technology, University of Missouri—Kansas City AWARDS: 2007 Cambridge’s Who’s Who
TRAD A BURNS (Lighting Designer) CLEVELAND: Osama The Hero, Our Town, My Name is Rachel Corrie, Fefu and Her Friends, Bright Room Called Day, The Secretaries, Venus, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Blue Sky Transmission, Summer and Smoke, Gross Indency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Cleveland Public Theatre; Nickel and Dimed, Great Lakes Theatre Festival; The Pillowman, The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, Dobama Theatre; Equus, Jekyll and Hyde, Song & Dance, Porgy and Bess, Urinetown, Beck Center for the Arts; Lighting Director, Verb Ballets BROADWAY: Assistant Designer: The Goodbye Girl, Passion, Angels in America, The Who’s Tommy, Translations, The Heiress, Beauty and the Beast OFF-BROADWAY: Dim Sum, Rat Woman, Thin Walls, The Flatted Fifth, My Virginia, New York Theatre Workshop; Wake Up I’m Fat, Public Theatre REGIONAL: Indiana Repertory Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House, Jupiter Theatre TELEVISION: “Stars on Ice”
JAMES C. SWONGER (Resident Sound Designer) CPH: Gee’s Bend, The Chosen, Bunnicula, Man of La Mancha, Trumbo, Lincolnesque, The Clean House, Cuttin’ Up, Of Mice and Men, RFK, Rabbit Hole, Dream a Little Dream, Custody of the Eyes, Well, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Christmas Story, I Am My Own Wife, Room Service, Bad Dates, Restoring the Sun, Rounding Third, The Real Thing, The Piano Lesson, John Henry, Tuesdays with Morrie, Plaid Tidings, Crowns, Hurlyburly REGIONAL: Cleveland’s Lyric Opera, Utah Festival Opera Company, Utah’s Pioneer Theatre Company, Baltimore’s Center Stage, New Jersey’s George Street Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theater OTHER CREDITS: designed the premiere productions of The Tragic Demise of Whaleship Essex, Swinging on a Star: A Tribute to the Music of Johnny Burke, Tangents, and The Count of Monte Cristo, adapted by Charles Morey; designed sound system installations for restaurants, theatres, and churches; former adjunct professor for the University of Utah’s Fine Arts program
CHARLES KARTALI (Dialect Coach) CPH: The Chosen CLEVELAND: Sideman, The Weir, Bad Seed, Full Moon, Ensemble Theatre; The Heart Rising (reading), Dobama Theatre REGIONAL: Greenbrier Valley Theatre, The American Classics Festival EDUCATION: BFA, Case Western Reserve University OTHER CREDITS: WordBRIDGE Playwrights’ Lab (St. Petersburg, FL/Clemson, SC) CPH ACTING CREDITS: A Christmas Story, Tuesdays with Morrie, Trumbo, FusionFest 2006-07 CLEVELAND ACTING CREDITS (select): The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Dobama Theatre; A Bright Room Called Day, Cleveland Public Theatre; The Price, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Ensemble Theatre; Awake and Sing, Halle Theatre REGIONAL ACTING CREDITS (select) : American Stage, Aspen Theatre in the Park, BoarsHead Theater, Shadowland Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The American Classics Festival
Founded in 1915, The Cleveland Play House is the first permanently established professional theatre in the United States. More than 12 million people have attended over 1,300 productions at The Play House – including more than 130 American and/or World Premieres. Today, under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Bloom and Managing Director Kevin Moore, The Cleveland Play House is an artist-driven theatre that serves the Greater Cleveland community by holding true to its mission:
To produce plays of the highest professional standards that inspire, stimulate, and entertain our diverse audiences, and to conduct training and educational programs that enhance the quality of life for those we serve and help to insure the future of theatre.
The Ohio Arts Council helps to fund The Cleveland Play House with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.
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The Cleveland Play House
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