Feb 21, 2005 / 22:00 pm
A new play about a nun, who has suspicions that a priest could be molesting a boy, will hit Broadway next month. According to a review by Sentinel Television Critic Hal Boedeker, playwright John Patrick Shanley says his latest work, Doubt, is dedicated “to the many nuns who have served others.”
The 54-year-old said he drew on his Catholic upbringing in writing the characters.
Shanley told the critic that he was hoping, through his play, to bring nuns “back to a place of respect and the place of three-dimensional people." Religious sisters, he said, have been depicted in mostly comedic roles for the last 25 years and he wanted to change that.
"I spent eight years with these nuns when I was a boy," Shanley told the critic. "They had a big effect on me, and not a bad effect."
The play, which is set in 1964, has been performed before packed theatre at the Manhattan Theatre Club since the fall. The main character, Sr. Aloysius (Cherry Jones) suspects that popular Fr. Flynn (Brian O'Byrne) could be molesting a boy.
Shanley’s credits include the script for the 1987 film Moonstruck. Discussions about a movie version of Doubt are planned.
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