Doubt: A Parable is a 2004 play by
John Patrick Shanley originally staged
off-Broadway at the
Manhattan Theatre Club on
November 23,
2004. The production transferred to the
Walter Kerr Theatre on
Broadway in March 2005 and closed on
July 2,
2006 after 525 performances and 25 previews.
Plot
The play is set in the
St. Nicholas Church School in
the Bronx during the fall of
1964. The school is subject to the authority of the
parish, and thus the priests, of St. Nicholas. There are two priests in the parish. The
priest in charge,
Monsignor Benedict, 79 years old, is "very good" but "otherworldly in the extreme." The other priest, Father Flynn, is much younger, new to the parish, and good at
basketball. The opening line of the play is a sermon in which he asks: "What do you do when you're not sure?"