Triad Stage: Doubt

Thursday, July 24, 2008 · 8pm

Valborg Theatre[ Map ]

Appalachian State University

Boone, North Carolina

$20 / $10 / $5

"Triad Stage strengthens community, provokes dialogue, delights audiences, and fosters a new Southern voice." - Downtown Greensboro, Inc.

"Doubt is an inspired study in moral uncertainty with the compelling structure of an old-fashioned detective novel." - The New York Times

Greensboro's highly-acclaimed Triad Stage returns to An Appalachian Summer Festival to perform John Patrick Shanley's award-winning drama Doubt.

What should be done if no one is entirely certain of the truth? Shanley's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award® winning drama is the story of four people forced to confront their core beliefs. In a Bronx Catholic school in 1964, four individuals struggle with doubt and conviction when the school principal voices her suspicions that one of her male colleagues - the resident priest - has abused a young boy.

From the moment the curtain rises, audiences are caught up in a riveting debate involving a mother, a priest and the school's nuns. The debate that begins on stage takes hold and continues to enthrall long after the play comes to an end.

Speaking about his process in writing this multiple award-winning play, Shanley discusses how he used the Catholic church scandals as a framework within which to form a discussion about certainty - and doubt.

"The title Doubt really had the power for me, not the Catholic church scandals. And so... I meant that to be implied... as a powerful and useful tool to answer something in the culture. Whether it was the invasion of Iraq - and the certainty that that was the right thing to do - or people in the Democratic and Republican parties who, year in and year out, show up like convicts chained together - having the exact same positions on everything! ...I don't think that's thinking. And that's what functioning, effective members of a culture do - say, 'Look! I have doubts. And that's a good thing. You should have doubts, too.'"

Now in its seventh season, Triad Stage, located in downtown Greensboro, has earned a reputation for daring acting and design that have earned the company local, state and national praise. They offer a bold and infinitely compelling production that exudes a passion for the art of storytelling. 2008 marks the company's second season touring a production to An Appalachian Summer Festival. Come see for yourself what the critics - and App Summer audiences - are raving about!

Doubt will also take the stage on Friday, July 25, 2008.