Broadway and Silver Screen Hit ‘Doubt’ Comes to UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Broadway and silver screen hit “Doubt” is coming to The University of Alabama this week.

The play is a fictional story about a nun who investigates a priest who is allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a young boy at a Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964.

The nuns, however, have no authority over the priests, so it’s a struggle to prove their case.

“A lot of things happen and when the audience leaves they’re not sure what happened,” said Tom Alsip, the play’s director. “They don’t know if the priest is guilty or innocent, or what happens to the nuns.

“You come in and you watch the play and that’s Act 1. Act 2 is when you go home with your friends and family and discuss what you think happened.”

Alsip is a graduate student at UA seeking his master’s of fine arts in directing in the department of theatre and dance. This is his directorial debut in Tuscaloosa.

“I was living in New York when the original play came out, and I was lucky enough to see it in 2005 with the original cast,” he said. “I always said that if I ever had a chance to direct it I would. That’s why this was the play for me.”

The play was originally written by John Patrick Shanley. It won a 2005 Pulitzer for drama and a Tony Award for best play.

It was made into a movie in 2008 staring Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Viola Davis and Amy Adams. It was nominated for multiple Academy Awards for best screenplay, best actress and best supporting actor.

The four-person cast includes three UA students and Ava Buchanan, a long-time actress with Theatre Tuscaloosa. She plays the nun, Sis. Aloysius.

“It’s a great play,” Alsip said. “It’s a contemporary play that interfaces well with today’s society. It’s what a lot of plays strive to be. It’s a play that people will talk about, and I couldn’t recommend it more highly.”

The play will be performed at the Allen Bales Theatre, Sept. 19-23 at 7:30 p.m. and on Sept. 25 at 2 and 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at Rowand-Johnson Hall at the ticket office, at UA.tix.com or by phone at 205-348-3400.

The department of theatre and dance is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards included Rhodes and Goldwater scholarships.