Memo from the RTC: Doubt
Is A MAJOR Theatrical Experience
By Norm Scott
As one of the Rockaway Theatre Company’s videographers I
video opening and closing performances. I admit that I was not enamored of the
subject matter of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt
about a possible case of child molestation by a priest which opened last Friday
and closes this Sunday. I knew the actors and was sure they would be great. But
as for the play itself, I was not so sure. So I entered the theater with an
attitude of doing my duty. I left a riveting hour and a half later feeling I
had had one of the great theatrical experiences. I don’t believe I’ve ever
heard an audience applaud at the end of every single scene.
The play itself is way more
complex than I thought, with the older traditional hard-ass nun pointing to a
number of instances of the oppression of women by the male church hierarchy
where even the progressive young priest tries to take advantage of male
privilege. And then there is the race issue where the parent of the one black
child in the school scoffs at some of the automatic assumptions being made.
Thus Doubt is very contemporary despite taking place in 1964, not long
after JFK’s assassination.
Kudos to directors David Risley
and Jodee Timpone and stars Susan Corning, Frank Caiati, Ashley Ann Jones and
Billyn Tarplain. We all know the outstanding work of RTC mainstays Frank Caiati
and Susan Corning as actors and directors. Ashley Ann Jones has been a major
dancer at RTC musicals since “A Chorus Line” but I’d never seen her in a
dramatic role. And as the young nun she was superb. And newcomer Billy Tarplain
in her one scene, blew everyone away.
Last week I wrote, “Call me
prejudiced but I see this cast as capable of winning Tony Awards as well as any
pros - if a Tony was given for community theater (there’s an idea!)”. Well, I
truly believe that every one of the four performers deserves a Tony.
Doubt is a limited run production- there are only 7 chances
to see it! Reserve tickets online at www.RockawayTheatreCompany.org for
best seats. May 31/ June 1, 6, 7, 8 at 8 PM and June 2, 9 at 2 PM.
The directors of the summer blockbuster musical Newsies have
offered me a small role where I get to run around the stage chasing some young
people. I will be lugging my own defibrillator.
Norm’s other WAVE column is School Scope and he blogs daily
at ednotesonline. com