‘Doubt’ opens at Chester Theatre Group

At first, the play “Doubt” seems to center on one question: Did he or didn’t he?

Did Father Flynn, the new priest at St. Nicholas Church in the Bronx, really molest an eighth-grade boy, who happens to be the school’s first black pupil?

Or are the suspicions of Sister Aloysius, the school’s principal, based on her resentment of Flynn’s progressive views of the Catholic Church at the time of the reforms put in place by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s?

But the cast and director of the production of “Doubt” that opens today at the Black River Playhouse by Chester Theatre Group think that the play’s issues transcend specifics of time period and even denomination.

Diane Gilch of the Martinsville section of Bridgewater, who plays Sister Aloysius in the Chester production, writes in an email that “Doubt” deals with a variety of questions.

Gilch cites such topics as “intimacy vs. purity, authority vs. authenticity, the role of women, the rule of chastity and all its repercussions, the societal responsibilities of a true Christian, and, of course, the exploration of doubt vs. the safe harbor of certainty.”

At the same time, Sister Aloysius is not the villain of the play, according to Gilch. “Sister Aloysius is a formal, judgmental person,” she writes. “She came to the convent later in life and takes her vocation and responsibilities very seriously.”

“It would be easy to conclude that her motivating force is hate,” Gilch adds. “But I believe it is love, though a particularly austere variety of love.”

Jackie Jacobi of Edison, who plays young Sister James, agrees that the play raises complex issues.

“I think the question of what this priest did (or didn’t do) and all of the complications this question raises … are vital and honest and just so raw,” Jacobi writes in an email. “It feels boundless. This is about so much more than Catholicism.”

“Doubt,” written by John Patrick Shanley, won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for best play in 2005. In 2008 it was made into an Academy Award-nominated film starring Meryl Streep and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The drama offers four rich roles. Besides Sister Aloysius and Sister James, the cast consists of Father Flynn (played at Chester by Dale Monroe of Morristown) and Mrs. Muller, the student’s mother (Tasha R. Williams of Belleville).

Kevern Cameron of Hardyston, who is directing the production, says he is fortunate to be working with four experienced actors in these demanding roles.

“Sometimes when you direct, you tell yourself, ‘Well, I can get by with these actors,’ ” Cameron says. “But this is a dream cast. Diane is mature enough to bring an imposing presence. Dale can do anything he puts his mind to.”

He praises Williams, who only has one scene. “She brings exactly the right mix of dignity and forced humility that a black person in 1964 would have,” Cameron says.

The character who undergoes the greatest change in the course of the play may be Sister James, Cameron observes.

“Jackie projects young and naïve, but she’s also able to shape the character’s learning curve,” he says.

The theater-in-the-round layout of the Black River Playhouse is an ideal setting for “Doubt.” “The intimacy of the theater means that you’re never more than 20 feet away from the actors,” Cameron says.

“The core of the play is not about religion,” Cameron says. “It’s about conviction, and the differences between intuitive conviction and experiential conviction.”

Cameron and the actors acknowledge that the question of a priest molesting a young person often provokes a visceral response. But Cameron adds that he hopes audiences will attend the way the story is played out in “Doubt.”

“I’d love to have people walk out of the theater arguing among themselves about what happened,” he says. “It’s very easy to jump to conclusions, especially about something we consider detestable. I hope they’ll appreciate the subtlety of this story.”

DOUBT

WHEN: Through Sept. 27. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. (No performance Sept. 13)

WHERE: Chester Theatre Group at Black River Playhouse, corner of Grove and Maple Streets, Chester

TICKETS: $20 ($18 for students and seniors)

INFO: 908-879-7304 or www.chestertheatregroup.org