N.H. Theatre Project offers ‘Doubt’

In an entertaining yet enlightening sermon, Father Flynn compares gossip to the feathers that float away from a pillow that has been cut with a knife on a rooftop.

Flynn, played by Blair Hundertmark, later admits to making up the Irish Catholic priest he impersonates in the story and says the truth doesn’t make for good sermons. But, he obviously speaks at the pulpit for real reasons in the play, “Doubt: A Parable.”

He is on one side of a story, while Sister Aloysius is on the other. The traditional and uniformly feared nun is principal of St. Nicholas Church School, where Flynn has recently begun teaching and preaching. With little to no evidence, she is convinced that Flynn is having an inappropriate relationship with an altar boy. She is played impeccably by Genevieve Aichele, artistic director and founder of the New Hampshire Theatre Project, where the play runs through Nov. 30.

In the middle of the dispute is Sister James, a young teacher played by Victoria Townsend. The principal reprimands her for being too innocent, using her sharp annunciation like ammunition. James obediently looks for and finds all the evidence that Aloysius needs to fuel her suspicions.      

The setting is the Bronx in the 1960s and the boy in question is the first black student at the school. Flynn says the attention he gives Donald Muller is meant to help the otherwise rejected child adjust, but Aloysius says the student’s situation makes him easy prey.

The boy’s mother finds herself in a compromising position, as well. Lydia Hannibal, as Mrs. Muller, arrives submissively pretty in pink at the principal office, but leaves Aloysius with the lesson that not everything is black and white. She is polite with a sweet smile and Southern accent, but becomes serious and sad with her unexpected perspective. Regardless of the way she changes the story, her opinion only adds to the principal’s suspicions.

With only four characters in this version of the play, the casting couldn’t be better. Hundertmark is friendly and just slightly effeminate, but capable of explosive anger when his reputation is threatened. Through it all, a frowning Aichele remains relatively calm, cold and unwavering. The painfully pure Townsend becomes self assured and takes a stand on her own.  

The small cast is supplemented by sounds of a school, bells and children in hallways, which are heard between some scenes, while birds call in others. The theater, also small, is lined with black curtains, and the ceiling and floor are also black, keeping the focus on the stage. The stage is divided into three vignettes and the lighting changes depending on the scene. There is light filtered through red stained glass near the pulpit at one end of the stage, and sunlight through leaves in the garden and through window panes in the principal’s office.

Dev Luthra successfully directs the play, which was first staged in 2004. John Patrick Shanley astutely used a controversy within the Catholic Church to oppose extremes of good and evil and explore what’s in between. Best of all, the text lets the audience make up its own mind, leaving a hint of doubt among the viewers.

Shanley more recently wrote and directed the movie “Doubt,” to be released this year. It features what looks to be another ideal cast: Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Father Flynn, Amy Adams as Sister James and Viola Davis as Mrs. Muller.

“Doubt: A Parable” kicks off the New Hampshire Theatre Project’s 20th anniversary season, which was launched with a party last month. Show times for “Doubt” are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m., through Nov. 30. West End Studio Theatre is located at 959 Islington St., Portsmouth, 603-431-6644.