Doubt to Close July 2; National Tour to Launch in September

John Patrick Shanley’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play Doubt will end its Broadway run on Sunday, July 2. As of that date, it will have played 525 performances and 25 previews, making it the fifth-longest running Broadway play of the past 10 years.

Directed by Doug Hughes, Doubt concerns Sister Aloysius, the longtime head of a large Roman Catholic school in the Bronx, who suspects that the charismatic Father Flynn is having improper relations with an altar boy. The show’s cast currently consists of Eileen Atkins as Sister Aloysius, Ron Eldard as Father Flynn, Jena Malone as Sister James, and Adriane Lenox as Mrs. Muller, all of whom will continue in their roles through July 2. Cherry Jones, who won a 2005 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Sister Aloysius, will headline a national tour of Doubt that is set to begin in September 2006 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

In his review of Doubt for TheaterMania, David Finkle wrote: “The chilling beauty of the play originates with the specific example that Shanley employs to moot one of organized religion’s most recurring issues: the place that doubt has in the minds and hearts of the faithful. Refusing to supply a pat answer to the ever-present quandary, Shanley is cunning as he pits a self-proclaimed religious woman who brooks no reservations about her beliefs against a clear-cut religious man who does. The playwright doesn’t confine the argument to the philosophical wrestling match on stage; before the intermissionless, 90-minute play ends, he’s provided information on Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn that leaves patrons grappling with their own doubts.”