Doubt has been a great way to get back into the acting field with new breath. Upon reading the play and having a moment to think about it, it’s a brilliant piece to dive into as an mid-aged actor. The opening of the play was very interesting, in that Father Flynn is standing alone on stage. To me the fact that he delivers several monologue’s, alone, he himself is a loner. As stated in the play, a young Donald Muller might need to have a friend to make him feel comfortable. Father Flynn might have need to have the same friendship as a child and might have noticed it in young Muller. Although the times might have not been on the side of integration, Flynn might/not might have been on the side of integration, which is why this might be his standing alone. Looking at sister Aloysius’s view of incidents, her school must not get out of her control. When Sister James compares her to running the school as that of a jail, Sis Aloysius seems to have an under lying delight in keeping order her way. Although the times warranted keeping children in order, due to such things as rock and roll, Elvis and the death of Kennedy. To a certain degree Sis Aloysius appears as someone hell bent on keeping order Somewhere underneath it all i feel she has a hidden agenda. It seems she might have been in the position before and refuses to let it go. It is as if the very idea of him not being guilty is worse than being guilty. By planting in the head of Sister James that there might be something brewing in the school and the first thing that is out of place need to be squashed and brought to righteousness so it never happens again. And that that person learn their lesson, repent and be banished in shame. The doubt i feel in the play is that i have been duped too. At first the scene with Mrs. Muller had me at odds, how could she just let the fact that her son might have been given wine, maybe he might have had a friendship with a man, a white man at that, doesn’t bother her. Her almost calmness in her attitude towards the whole incident is that it’s just to get him to the next step. We all have a few hurdles that we need to jump, no matter how painful they are to get to the other side, it has to be done. That seemed to be her sacrifice for her son, to turn a blind eye, also something that most blacks did at the time to not make the issue escalate. I also have a bit of doubt that Flynn might have done it, even if the advances might have been Donald’s, there is too much riding on having such a new student there with eyes on him all the time. Having the first black student there would have not let him feel that relaxed to put him in such a position, and then there is the possibility that he might have thought because of the situation, Flynn probably thought he could get away with such behavior. If Donald were to have been in the Rectory alone, might he drink the wine voluntary or did force make him do it? Did he have the same issue himself at his old school which is why he had to transfer schools? There is a bit of doubt based on questions like this and a few others. If i were to base my opinion on just the facts presented and the fact that there were lies told, I would say that Flynn didn’t do it. Bulling and railroading young people by using the weakest link, Sis James, seems to be at play here. On the surface it might look like Sis James is herself innocent, yet she herself lets the bully railroad her into giving a hidden agenda of living under the radar of life. She doesn’t want to create a situation or have anyone hate her. Yet another view of someone with low self-esteem. Her not willingness at first is to conform to Sister Aloysius’s harden view of treating the kids, but changing her view of having to spy on those she might hold dear to herself in some shape or form and ratting out Flynn, again just to please someone else and not herself. There seems to be a great deal of low esteem issue throughout the play, and as in life they are hidden by other issues. When I first read ‘Doubt” I wanted to blame everyone for not being there for the child, and by that I mean not putting their own agenda before the child. As performers we need to draw on our own personal experiences to convey the piece, yet in one were the subject might be molestation or rape, also a bit in this play ‘race’ might also be a underlining tone, might be hard to balance and juggle all these feelings and emotions. ‘Doubt’ is a great piece for me to re-hone my skills as an actor, by stretching my own understanding of my limits. Having played young until my forties, i’m making a stiff, i guess into adulthood and playing complex figures. Father Flynn has been such, in that I can apply the issues of today: race, sexuality, bullying and find a root of the emotion. Building on my past experiences in both theatre and life to understand how Flynn might be misinterpreted at that time. These complex characters, scratched the surface at the time of issues no one wanted to talk or take a stand on. But since many of the issues are now in our news and online everywhere, understanding how the past has shaped our future for this piece. On a sidebar, I do see why Adrianne Lenox won a Tony for her roll, to have to convey such pain and loss for what you have to do for your child was wonderfully written for her by J. P. Shanley.