BSB Announces 'Doubt: A Parable' to Open September 12, 2025

“What do you do when you're not sure? . . . Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty” (Doubt: A Parable).

---

BSB is beyond excited to announce that John Patrick Shanley's Doubt: A Parable will kick off our 2025 Fall Season on September 12th! This deliciously challenging play, directed by Cathy M.W. Kurz, boasts an exquisite cast of BSB veterans: Delaney Driscoll, Murphy Scott Wulfgar, Melissa King, and Lisa Israel!

The scene is St. Nicholas's Catholic church and grade school in the Bronx; the year is 1964, and Vatican II (the “updating” of the Church) is in full swing. 

Sister Aloysius (Driscoll) is the “steely,” experienced, disciplined principal of the school, one who sees the value of traditions, structure, and a certain formality. The parish priest, Father Flynn (Wulfgar), who teaches Religion and Phys Ed is much the opposite. A generation younger, he embraces the relaxed informality of the personal I'm-just-like-you approach, not only with parishioners, but also with his students, both in class and outside of it.  But Aloysius, through intuition and circumstantial evidence, becomes convinced that Flynn has “seduced” Donald Muller, one of the schoolboys he's befriended.

Not trusting the gullible, doddering monsignor in charge, she sets out to expose the priest herself, outside of the church's “chain of discipline.”  He is as vehement in his denial as she in her unshakeable conviction.  It is a monumental clash of wills, and the stakes are high. Which of these fierce adversaries is telling the truth?

Rounding out the story are two characters caught in the crossfire: the young, idealistic Sister James (King) dealing with mounting pressure to choose a side while struggling to make her own determination of guilt or innocence (potentially losing her own in the process), and Mrs. Muller (Israel), mother of the alleged victim, confronting dilemmas of her own when confronted with Sister Aloysius' determination.

---

“Mr. Shanley is on no one's side. It seems safe to say the playwright agrees with Father Flynn when he explains his preference for parables over reality: 'The truth makes for a bad sermon. It tends to be confusing and have no clear conclusion.' But Doubt presents each point of view with reasonableness and eloquence that never seem out of sync with the characters' ecumenical backgrounds.”  (NYT).

 The Production  In choosing to open our 33rd season with John Patrick Shanley's powerfully suspenseful masterwork, Brigit Saint Brigit's actors and director are eagerly exploring the seemingly unshakeable passions, beliefs, and events the playwright presents. Chosen as 2005's Best Play by the Tony and Drama Desk awards, as well as the Pulitzer Prize committee, it retains its fiery relevance.

But what we've come to discover too, is that in 2025, one of the themes Doubt probes is more unsettling than ever before—the ground shifting under our feet: the nature of truth, the value of structure and institutions and the fear of being without them, equivocation existing alongside its opposite.  

This “quiet” “intelligently measured play . . . sends off emotional stealth charges that go far deeper” even than the apparent events in this thriller.

Cathy MW Kurz

Director

*Quotes not cited come from Ben Brantley, 4/1/05, NYT.