Shanley dramatizes nuns who shaped him

John Patrick Shanley knows intimately the turf he wrote about in "Doubt."

Just chat with the genial, outspoken and wryly irreverent New Yorker about his Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-honored drama, now in its regional stage debut at Seattle Repertory Theatre. Listen to his reflections on his parochial elementary-school days, guided by women much like the nuns depicted in "Doubt."

"My time with the nuns was not unhappy," he declares, in his native Bronx-brined accent. "When I was a young kid, the nuns provided an incredibly safe learning environment, and sort of left me to my own devices. They weren't interested in crawling into my head and my heart. They were interested in me learning."

"Doubt" charts the ethical and practical dilemma of Sister Aloysius, played at the Rep by Kandis Chappell. This strict Bronx school principal has a hunch (but no proof) that a popular teacher-priest, Father Flynn (Corey Brill) is molesting a male student.

Flynn denies it. Caught in the middle are a younger teacher, Sister James (Melissa D. Brown) and the mother (portrayed by Cynthia Jones) of the African-American boy in question.

"The play is certainly about a very particular church school I went to in the Bronx [St. Anthony's]," confirms Shanley. "The nun who was the principal was a tough old broad, kind of scary. The younger nun in the play was styled on my first-grade teacher — whose name really is Sister James."

The Broadway set design was "an exact replica of my school as it looked in 1964. That was a little eerie."

Theater preview


"Doubt" previews tonight-Tuesday, opens Wednesday and runs through Oct. 21, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Center; $10-$48 (206-443-2222 or www.seattlerep.org).

Following recent scandals in the Catholic Church, a slew of fictional and documentary exposés of child sex abuse by priests have appeared.

But Shanley, 56, a veteran playwright ("Savage in Limbo") and Oscar-winning screenwriter ("Moonstruck"), considers pederasty just one aspect of his multilayered play.

"Many people press me to tell them — did Father Flynn do it?" says Shanley, who is now writing a screenplay of "Doubt."

"I always say, I know but it's not important. And I'm never going to tell you! I'm not condoning what this priest might have done. But we're living in a world where sometimes these things are treated with false amazement."

He continues, "At age 8 or 9, I could see child molesters start coming out of the woodwork. Many kids deal with adults approaching them at that age, and just tell them [to back off]."

"But there are other scenarios where the child has insecurities and needs, and an adult gets what he wants by exploiting that."

"Doubt's" more open-ended themes intrigued Shanley as much, if not more, than the question of child abuse.

"I've never been a fan of things that preach to the converted and re-affirm beliefs I already have. I'm most interested in stories that are in the air, that are very human and unresolved.

"I'm curious why people obey other people. I have a lot of questions about that. And the idea of certainty. President Bush's certainty there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was a big influence as I was writing [the play]."

Seattle Rep artistic director David Esbjornson suggests that "Doubt" pivots on "a power struggle between very strong, charismatic individuals. It's also about conflicts in the Catholic Church during Vatican II, over things like education and the role of women in the church hierarchy."

Shanley still seems surprised a drama focused on "a couple of nuns sitting and talking" was such a hit. And he was amazed when the real Sister James (whom he hadn't seen in decades) came to see it.

"She was totally enthusiastic," he notes happily. "She came several times. Now she's a good friend and a technical adviser."

Esbjornson had hoped to host the new national tour of "Doubt," directed by former Rep associate director Doug Hughes and starring Cherry Jones. (Both won Tonys for the Broadway production.)

The timing wasn't right, so Esbjornson tapped Intiman Theatre ex-honcho Warner Shook to stage a new production.

Shanley is pleased Seattle Rep got early dibs on "Doubt," partly because the theater debuted his lesser-known comedy "Psychopathia Sexualis" in 1996.

"I had a lot of fun working in Seattle," he mused, "and I have a soft spot for that theater."

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com