Debuting at Dignity Players, August 4th–7th and 11th–13th, in Annapolis is the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning story of Doubt, which explores the destructive power of gossip and suspicion when the parish school’s principal, Sister Aloysius, suspects improper relations between a priest and student in a Bronx school.
Artistic director and cofounder Mickey Lund chose this play a year in advance for the Dignity Players 2011 season because it follows their view of, “producing plays and musicals containing a strong liberal ope-nminded message of life, liberty, justice for all, hope, and dignity.”
“I want people to leave the theater talking about this play,” says director Kathleen Clarke Ruttum. “I typically don’t direct during the summer because I enjoy a break from directing 60 to 70 kids per play at St. Mary’s High School for the past 14 years, but this powerful play and intimate cast of four was an opportunity I couldn’t resist.” With a small cast, Ruttum has the luxury of spending time working on character development and researching the late ’60s time period with costume designer Krista Davies. The cast includes: Jim Gallagher (Father Flynn), Mary MacLeod (Sister Aloysius), Tori Kontor (Sister James), and Kelly Armstrong (Mrs. Muller).
Originally staged in New York at the Manhattan Theatre in 2004, the production moved to Broadway and the Walter Kerr Theatre in 2005. A national tour of Doubt won the 2007 Touring Broadway Award for Best Play. In 2008 the play was adapted into a movie starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep. But the story was always meant to be told in an intimate setting. Dignity Players intends to put the emphasis on the storyline, the real star of the show. The one-act production considers its second act to be the discussion that follows, between members of the audience after they leave the theater. That discussion may include questions about the relationship between morality and humanity.
“This is a socially pertinent play with an incredible cast. When they perform it crackles, it’s electricity,” says Ruttum. For more information, visit dignityplayers.com or call 410-266-8044.
