No doubt, "Doubt" is a winner

COURTESY PHOTO Brendan Powers and Rachel Burttram in "Doubt, A Parable." "The beginning of change is the moment of Doubt. It is that crucial moment when I renew my humanity or become a lie."

- John Patrick Shanley, playwright of "Doubt: A Parable."

Doubt's a funny thing. Some people respond to it as if it's radioactive, something to be avoided at all costs. They feel it's wrong, a sin, and categorize it as anything from a weakness to a character defect.

We have a president who calls himself "The Decider," who refuses to change his position once he's made up his mind. Some see this as an admirable trait, others view it as being pig-headed and shortsighted. Others, whose positions change and evolve over time with additional information, are accused of flip-flopping.

When it was revealed in August that Mother Teresa, in her earlier years, had written some letters expressing doubt, there was a flurry of reaction: how could someone so saintly have doubted?

But many believers throughout time have gone through a dark night of the soul, struggling and grappling with their faith.

COURTESY PHOTO Lisa Morgan plays Sister Aloysius with Patricia Idlette, as Mrs. Muller, in the Florida Rep production of "Doubt, A Parable." "Doubt: A Parable," playing at the Florida Repertory Theatre through Feb. 3, raises interesting questions about the role of doubt in our personal lives, in the church, and in society. Set in a Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964, the story revolves around the principal, Sister Aloysius, who suspects a priest, Father Flynn, of molesting a young boy. He seems to be singling out the boy for special attention, and meets with him alone in the rectory. Sister James, the boy's teacher, reports him returning from the rectory with alcohol on his breath.

"I wouldn't mind being wrong, but I doubt I am," Sister Aloysius declares at one point.

When she confronts the priest, he tells her, "You have not the slightest proof of anything."

But she replies, "I have my certainty..."

And that is what the whole play balances upon. Is Sister Aloysius right? Is she a brave woman trying to stop a pedophile? Or is she someone on a witch hunt, armed only with suspicions? Does she mistakenly equate being gay with being a pedophile? Is she a protector of children or an unfeeling damager of reputations? Self-righteous or saintly?

This is part of the genius of the play, which received a Tony Award for Best Play, a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. John Patrick Shanley has cleverly written the play so it works on a number of levels: as a basic psychological mystery, but also as an examination of the nature of doubt, which he's called "the black sheep of emotions." "Doubt" also touches on race relations, church politics, homophobia and power struggles between the sexes.

If this makes it sound as if it's heavy, ponderous and preachy, it's not. It's wildly entertaining - the best kind of night you could dream of experiencing at the theater - and even humorous.

It's also not a diatribe against the Catholic church; Shanley dedicates the play "to the many orders of Catholic nuns who have devoted their lives to serving others in hospitals, schools and retirement homes. Though they have been much maligned and ridiculed, who among us has been so generous?" he writes in the program.

Director Maureen Heffernan brings us a superb quartet of actors with a quality of acting rarely seen in this town. Lisa Morgan plays Sister Aloysius with rocklike sternness; she is so relentlessly unyielding you suspect that even her undergarments are heavily starched or made of cast iron. She frightens the students, ruling the school with an iron fist. Hers is a joyless, black-and-white religion, with satisfaction gained only from doing one's duty and adhering to the rules. Morgan is more than up to the task of portraying her and does so without turning her into a stereotype or one-note character. Somehow, with a downturn of the lips or a squint, she displays subtleties of emotion.

And her character also provides many of the evening's laughs; her diatribe against "Frosty the Snowman," which she believes "espouses a pagan belief in magic," is hysterical.

Rachel Burttram plays Sister James, the young, naive nun who gets pulled into Sister Aloysius' agenda. Like Morgan, she has only her face and voice available with which to express herself; her body is covered in a heavy habit and her gestures restrained. But her face, bordered by a dark bonnet, is like a flower, expressing joy, uncertainty, confusion, doubt. Her enthusiasm falters, when confronted by Sister Aloysius.

Brendan Powers, as Father Flynn, opens the play with a sermon about doubt. You get the feeling he's well-acquainted with the emotion, as he discusses the isolating, disorienting feelings of uncertainty. He goes head-to-head with Sister Aloysius, at first not taking her seriously, then displaying panic and concern when he realizes how she can damage his reputation. Powers shows the hell of the man struggling both internally and externally, all the while claiming his innocence ...though he is not above using the pulpit as a means to fight back.

And though Patricia Idlette, as Mrs. Muller, the boy's mother, doesn't enter the action until late, she plays a strong and pivotal role. As a black woman in the mid-60s, Mrs. Muller's aware of life's restrictions and limitations for people of color, but is hoping for better for her son. Idlette plays her as a combination of the best of the two sisters: she embodies Sister Aloysius' strength and Sister James' warmth. She doesn't cower before the principal; her scene with Morgan is so sharp it practically has sparks flying from it. Idlette brings a richness and added dimension to the play.

Ray Recht's set is Broadway-perfect, with a wooden raised pulpit on stage left, Sister Aloysisus' office stage right, and a church courtyard in the center, complete with marble pillars, stone walls and stained glass windows.

"Doubt: A Parable," is that unique kind of play that entertains, but also causes you to think about and question what you believe and why. Days after seeing it, it continues to generate lively discussion and still haunts my mind.

This is as good as theater gets.