By Jeanne Beechwood
Kansas City Actors Theatre, now in its 20th season, has presented thought-provoking plays at the City Stage in the lower level of Union Station in KCMO.
However, KCAT’s newest production of Doubt: A Parable will be performed inside an active church, the Kansas CIty United Church of Christ in Brookside (205 W 65 St.).
The site specific production of Doubt: A Parable will offer an extraordinary experience. The religious drama unfolds as the audience sits in church pews with light shining in from the stained glass windows.
Written by John Patrick Shanley, Doubt: A Parable is a Pulitzer and Tony-award winning play. It is a dramatic exploration of doubt, faith, and suspicion. Set in 1964 at a Bronx Catholic school the play centers on the conflict between a reform-minded priest and the school’s traditional principal who is a nun.
The characters Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn are put into direct conflict when she learns that the priest had a one-to-one meeting with the school’s first African-American student. Mysterious circumstances lead her to believe that sexual misconduct occurred.
Playing the role of Father Flynn is Matt Schwader. Besides being a full-time theatre professor at Avila, Schwader is also a company member of KCAT. He will be delivering the play’s scripted sermons from the pulpit at the church. Schwader says this is an opportunity to “have an actual conversation with the audience.”
“I hope they can take away what they want to from this production and rely on certainty in their own minds,” he says, “or create doubts.”
Additional cast members include Teisha M. Bankston, Christina Schafer and Kathleen Warfel. The show is directed by Gary Heisserer. Having previously directed the regional premiere of About Alice and Master Harold and the Boys, Heisserer sees this 1964-based play as a contemporary subject. “This show looks at how we explore people with certain non-negotiable perspectives and those who have doubts,” he says. “That viewpoint is extremely timely in today’s world.”
While not based on a true story Doubt: A Parable covers situations the Catholic Church has faced and the subject is a sensitive topic.
Doubt: A Parable runs March 6 – 23. Evening performances are at 7:30 pm and the matinees are at 3 pm.
Reservations are essential. Tickets start as low as $20. On March 17th there is a pay-what-you-can performance.
For more information, contact KCAT at 816-361-5228 or visit www.kcactors.org.
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