Doubt Feedback Notes

Doubt by John Patrick Shanley

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eNotes: Table of Contents
1. Doubt: Introduction 2. Doubt: John Patrick Shanley Biography 3. Doubt: Summary 4. Doubt: Characters 5. Doubt: Themes 6. Doubt: Style 7. Doubt: Historical Context 8. Doubt: Critical Overview 9. Doubt: Criticism ♦ David Kelly ♦ Stephen Phillips ♦ Grant Gallicho ♦ Robert Coe 10. Doubt: Topics for Further Study 11. Doubt: What Do I Read Next? 12. Doubt: Bibliography and Further Reading 13. Copyright

Doubt: Introduction
John Patrick Shanley 's drama Doubt premiered at the Manhattan Theatre Club on November 23, 2004, before moving to Broadway, at the Walter Kerr Theatre, in March of the following year. It instantly became the most celebrated play of the season, taking the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; best new play awards from the New York Drama Critics ' Circle, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, the Drama League, the Outer Critics Circle, and the Drama Desk; the Obie; and four Tony Awards (best play, best actress in a play, best featured actress in a play, and best director). The play was published by Theatre Communications Group in 2005.

Doubt

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John Patrick Shanley Evan Agostini/Getty Images Set at a Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964, Doubt concerns an older nun, Sister Aloysius, who does not approve of teachers ' offering friendship and compassion over the discipline she feels students need in order to face the harsh world. When she suspects a new priest of sexually abusing a student, she is faced with the prospect of charging him with unproven allegations and possibly destroying his career as well as her own. To help build her case, she asks for help from an idealistic young nun, who finds her faith in compassion challenged, and

Bibliography: and Further Reading Doubt: Topics for Further Study 27 Sources Brustein, Robert, "Prosecution Plays," in the New Republic, May 23, 2005, p. 27. Isherwood, Charles, "Stories That Tell vs. Storytelling," in the New York Times, May 6, 2005, Section E, p. 1. Zoglin, Richard, "4 Must-See Shows On (and Off) Broadway," in Time, April 25, 2005, p. 56. Further Reading Berry, Jason, Lead Us Not into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children, University of Illinois Press, 2000. This book, originally published when the abuse story was first surfacing in 1992, is considered a classic in the study of what went wrong with the priesthood in the last half of the twentieth century. Calhoun, Ada, "Bryony Lavery and John Patrick Shanley Dish about Religion," in New York Magazine, September 13, 2004, p. 61. In a joint interview, Shanley and the playwright Bryony Lavery (Last Easter) consider the place that religion has in their works. Foster, David Ruel, ed., The Two Wings of Catholic Thought: Essays on "Fides et Ratio," Catholic University of America Press, 2003. In 1998, Pope John Paul II issued an encyclical, Fides et Ratio, proclaiming that reason and faith do not have to be considered separately but can be found together in Catholicism. The essays in this book examine the implications of that doctrine, which appears as one of the central conundrums of Doubt. Wilson, Anna Victoria, and William E. Segall, Oh, Do I Remember!: Experiences of Teachers during the Desegregation of Austin 's Schools, 1964–1971, State University of New York Press, 2001. The authors repeat testimony of teachers and students who suffered through the awkward phases of including people of color into traditionally white school systems, giving a sense of the division that race can create in an academic setting. Witchel, Alex, "The Confessions of John Patrick Shanley," in the New York Times Magazine, November 7, 2004, pp. 31-35. This article was written at a time when three of Shanley 's plays, including Doubt, were about to open in New York City. Copyright Sources 28