Continuing its tradition of mounting at least one Pulitzer Prize-winning production in a season, Sea Glass Stage Company will present Doubt: A Parable at Coligny Theatre September 11-27.
In addition to the 2005 Pulitzer for drama, the play also won four Tony Awards, including Best Play, and five Drama Desk Awards that year. In 2008, it was adapted as a feature film starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
A Broadway revival in 2024 garnered the work three Tony Award nominations.
“Doubt: A Parable is a smart, intense, relatable play that is extremely well written,” said Mark Erickson, director of the play. “In our first two seasons, we did a Pulitzer Prize-winning show each year. In 2024, we produced Lost in Yonkers and in 2025 we staged Next to Normal. Both were huge hits for obvious reasons, so we wanted to continue that tradition in our third season.”
Sister James, portrayed by Alex Clark, discusses a difficult situation with Father Flynn, played by Michael Murray.
The story takes place in a Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964. The drama centers on an elder nun’s suspicion of a new priest’s inappropriate behavior with a student.
While the story sounds at first like an off-putting topic, the deeper tone of the play inspires viewers to form their own opinions of what is – or is not – happening.
“At Sea Glass, we believe that if a show is written with the quality worthy of such praise, then it truly does not matter what the subject matter is,” Erickson said. “The text of the script stands on its own as a well-crafted piece of art, and that gives us a leg up when attempting to tell the story. On the other hand, a poorly written piece is difficult to produce successfully.”
Father Flynn, the priest in question, is of a newer order of Catholic priests who wanted to make the church and priests more accessible to churchgoers with a more friendly, personable approach. When he is accused of inappropriate behavior with the first black student to attend the school, was it a case of the priest accepting the student as he was with kindness, or was something sinister going on?
The older nun, Sister Aloysius, from the old order, is convinced – without evidence – of the latter. The younger Sister James is torn between the opinion of her more experienced colleague and wanting to believe that Father Flynn is only trying to express compassion for the student – something Sister James practices herself.
Sister Aloysius, Father Flynn, and Sister James take a moment for tea.
“The audience is moved back and forth as the play goes on, trying to decide whether Flynn actually did anything wrong,” Erickson said.
Beyond the subject matter, the play has a basic theme, Erickson said. “The main thing that I take away from the play is the recognition of the many factors that go into forming judgments as human beings,” he said. “For example, in this show, these factors include the time period of the mid-1960s, the hierarchy of the Catholic church, the evolution of the Catholic church to be more accessible, race, sexuality, and family. The show is not really about the accusations or the suspected behavior of Father Flynn, but more about how each character views the situation and their relationships to each other.”
As audiences watch what happens onstage, Erickson said he expects that many will have questions about their own opinions and how they are formed. “We’ve all had strong opinions about people or events in our lives and defended those opinions to an extreme at times,” he said. “Were we correct in our judgments? Can we be certain? What is right? What is wrong? Who decides? The bottom line is that we are always judging as human beings, and as certain as some may seem, there is always that little voice of doubt in the back of our heads. Am I right about this or am I wrong? We all have these thoughts, whether we want to admit it or not.”
Doubt: A Parable is a 90-minute play. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays
Bringing the story to the Sea Glass stage are Michael Murray as Father Flynn, Jessica Walck as Sister Aloysius, Alex Clark as Sister James, and Jovonia McLean, a newcomer to Sea Glass, as Mrs. Muller.
Mrs. Muller, played by Jovonia McLean, questions Sister Aloysius, played by Jessica Walck.
Doubt: A Parable is a 90-minute play. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. An optional talkback will be offered after Sunday performances for those who choose to listen and discuss the play with the cast and director.
Tickets for this production are $35. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit sgstage.org/tickets, or follow Sea Glass Stage at Coligny on Facebook and Instagram.
Sea Glass Stage Company is a nonprofit organization based on Hilton Head Island. The theatre is located at 1 N. Forest Beach Drive, Unit I-5 in Coligny Plaza, across the breezeway from Life Is Good.