DOUBT: A Parable

Looks like I will be going to see the recent Meryl Streep movie this week. The Steel Beam Theatre in downtown St. Charles Illinois is staging an outstanding 100-minute live performance of the original John Peter Shanley script, a live dramatic play. Titled as above, Doubt: A Parable is a probing look at doubt and certainty and at the difficult choices we make as we live out our lives. Certainly there are thousands of people who have seen Ms. Streep, the finest actress of our time. But once I knew I would be attending this version, I decided not to see the film. Now, having enjoyed the outstanding work of this quartet of actors, I feel compelled to see the film as directed by Shanley himself.

Director Terence Domschke lead Dennis Edwards as Father Flynn and Donna Steele as Sister Aloysius in a riveting clash of opponents. The questions arise from the certainty that the nun, the 1964 school principal, feels compels her to "bring down" the priest she mistrusts. Both priest and nun have issues of their own involved. We all wonder how to gain the certainty that will bring down evil and promote good, and how we can act that way without causing evil in the process. Is anyone wise enough to follow through? Is anyone perfect enough to withstand a malevolent scrutiny designed to destroy? Loads of things to ponder.

In a discussion period following the play, I commented that over 50 years ago I and all my classmates watched Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier and learned his motto: Be sure you are right, then go ahead. In just a few short years, I realized that if we waited to "be sure," we might never get anything done. In a few more years, I learned the disturbing truth about Davy Crockett, who was no hero in many ways. Perhaps he has been better characterized as a drunk.

No pictures to add tonight, and no answers to the tough questions posed by the fine script and powerful actors. Just the questions.