By Sandi Masori
CARLSBAD, California — As we drove up to Carlsbad to see the play Doubt at the New Village Arts, I was thinking, based on the ads I had seen, that it would be challenging to find a Jewish angle, seeing as how the ads had a stained glass window with a cross on it. I did find my Jewish angle though, which I will come back to.
The play is set in 1964 in a small Catholic boys’ school. The opening is a sermon on Doubt by Father Flynn (Dr. AJ Knox). New teacher Sister James (Juliana Scheding) is called to the principal’s office so that she can report on the progress of the new student, Donald, who also happens to be the first Black student in the school. Donald is never actually on stage, but rather comes to life through the conversations about him. The principal, Sister Aloysius (Kym Pappas) is worried that he is being bullied by some of the other boys. She’s also worried that Sister James is too enthusiastic as a teacher and not cold enough.
I couldn’t help but think about how different Sister Aloysius’ attitude towards teaching is from the way that we Jews look at it. My favorite story was always the one about how children were given letters covered in honey and encouraged to lick the honey off the tablet so they would associate learning with sweetness. As a former teacher I identified with Sister James’ desire to inspire and excite the children. The rigidness of the principal to me was the opposite of what I think makes for a good educator.
But that isn’t the central issue in the plot. The real issue is that Sister Aloysius suspects that Father Flynn is engaging in an inappropriate relationship with Donald. Putting those suspicions out there has many ramifications. At one point Donald’s mom Mrs. Muller (Sherell M. Tyler) is even called in to meet with the principal. But the question is, is she protecting the kids or ruining the life of a good man without any proof of wrongdoing?
Father Flynn gives another sermon after a confrontation with the principal and Sister James, and this sermon is on gossip. To illustrate his point, he tells the story of an Irish boy who asks the priest for forgiveness for having gossiped and the priest tells the boy to open a pillow and take out all the feathers. When the boy comes back and says he has done as he was told, the priest then instructs him to put all the feathers back in the pillow. This, of course, is impossible as they have been scattered to the wind. Sound familiar? I know this parable as an old Ashkenazi tale. I have heard it many times and always knew it to be a Jewish story. But is it? I tried to Google it and found many instances of the story as I knew it, being attributed to 19th-century Jews, but I also found cases of it being used in other religions. There is a similar but different story in native American culture. When I asked Bard, Google’s Ai chatbot, Bard suggested that it’s hard to find the true origin of stories that were passed down orally and that many communities may have arrived at the same wisdom around the same times- making it collective wisdom I guess.
Anyway, back to the play, I’m not going to tell you more about the plot as I don’t want to spoil the show for you.
Instead, let’s talk about the performance. There are three areas on the stage: the priest’s pulpit, the principal’s office, and the alcove in the courtyard. This allows the show to flow and maintain interest although it’s mostly talking and not action. I really appreciated the eye for detail on the part of the set designer Christopher Scott Murillo. It’s a small thing, but I was happy to see that the telephone of the principal’s desk had a cord coming out of it. This is a detail often missed when using props like that. The alcove and pulpit were beautiful. The brickwork on the alcove really caught my eye.
Scheding did a great job portraying the young idealistic teacher and nun. The small four-person cast did a great job in the scenes that had high emotions. There were a few moments in the show that seemed a little stiff, but overall it worked. I love that it was directed by founder and executive artistic director Kristianne Kurner and that both Pappas and Knox will be directing shows at NVA in the new year.
It’s definitely a show that makes you think, no matter what your religious belief system is. When it’s one person’s word or feelings versus another’s, how do you figure out the truth? And what damage is done in the quest for that truth?
While you ponder that, I’ll tell you something that I couldn’t help but notice about the theater, New Village Arts has the most comfortable theater seats. My tuchis was very happy sitting there for the 90 minutes of the show.
Doubt plays through October 22.
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Sandi Masori is a food and theatre reviewer for San Diego Jewish World. When she’s not covering food or theatre, she helps authors self-publish, hangs out with her kids, and searches for the best sushi in town.