Doubt

The Ahmanson’s 40th subscription season begins with Cherry Jones starring in her Tony Award-winning role in Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley, who received both the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play for this compelling new work that pits the comfort and safety of religious absolutes with the ambiguity of human compassion. Doug Hughes directs.

It’s 1964 and Sister Aloysius, the longtime head of a large Roman Catholic school in the Bronx, is convinced that a scandal is brewing within the church. The charismatic, unconventional Father Flynn is new to the parish and getting along well with the students, maybe a little too well. A woman of flinty resolve who sees the world in terms of black and white, Sister Aloysius pursues her suspicions and sets in motion a battle of wills between herself and the popular priest. Who wins is a matter for debate long after the curtain falls.