Autumn marks a new beginning for Miranda McClenaghan, who serves as the Director of Theatre Education for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Continuing Studies which produces multiple stage festivals and institutes around Wisconsin, teaches part-time at Madison Area Technical College, and acts and directs with companies around Madison. She has been involved with Strollers for several years, and last directed its 2007 production Art by Yasmin Reza. Auditions for Doubt were held in early July, with its small cast of four rehearsing through the rest of the summer in preparation to open the company's new season.
Here is a synopsis for Doubt from Strollers:
Sister Aloysius is committed to protecting a young boy from the harmful advances of Father Flynn yet he adamantly denies anything inappropriate happened. Set in a Catholic school in the Bronx, this brilliant and raw drama dissects and compares moral certainty with blind suspicion and leaves the audience to discern between the truth, fiction and whatever is left beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Opening over the first weekend of September, Doubt was subsequently reviewed by Jennifer Smith in Isthmus, who described it as a "memorable, high-caliber production, which proves that community theater doesn't have to shy away from challenging, contemporary plays."
The trailer for Doubt follows.
This is the third online trailer created by Matsushita for a local theatrical production, who previously made a preview for The Miss Firecracker Contest by Strollers in May and another for Compleat Female Stage Beauty by Mercury Players back in April. Given the broad and ambitious schedule of productions slated by the multiple companies at the Bartell through the upcoming season, with luck there will be more trailers on the way.
Doubt opened on the Evjue Stage at the Bartell Theatre on Thursday, September 4 and runs through Saturday, September 27. Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, along with a 4 p.m. matinee on Saturdays. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance by calling (608) 661-9696, #2, and cost $15. Reservations are recommended. A "behind the scenes look" at the Doubt will be offered to audience members following the performance on Friday, September 19, in which the director and actors will field questions about the production in a talk-back session.
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