ADA – “Doubt: A Parable” will be the first theatrical production of the year by the East Central University Theatre Department.
Three performances are scheduled for Oct. 10-12, 7:30 p.m. each night, at the J. Chalmers Herman Theatre inside the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center.
Tickets are $10 each and $9 for senior citizens and non-ECU students. Season passes for the 2013-2014 fine arts season will be accepted as well. ECU alumni receive a $1 discount and admission is free for ECU students, faculty and staff with ECU ID.
In this brilliant and powerful drama written by John Patrick Shanley, Sister Aloysius, a Bronx school principal, takes matters into her own hands when she suspects the young Father Flynn of improper relations with one of the male students.
The production is being directed, as a senior project, by ECU student Corey Scott, who resides in Ada and is a Sulphur High School graduate.
Starring in the production are BJ Echard as Father Brendan Flynn; Ashlie Simpson as Sister Aloysius Beauvier; Barbara Tiry as Sister James; and Angelina Tinker as Mrs. Muller.
“The cast is amazing. They have performed above and beyond what they are capable of,” said Scott.
Echard is interim director of enrollment management and an adjunct instructor in the ECU Department of Communications and Performance Studies. Simpson is a senior psychology major from Valliant. Tiry is a senior communications major with a theatre concentration from Skiatook; and Tinker is a sophomore from the Bahamas.
Scott, who has a double-major in theatre and English, says there a multitude of messages that can be taken from this production, but there are two he likes to focus upon.
“No. 1 is how far is too far in ruining a man’s career and livelihood? No. 2, how certain are you of a fact before you act upon it?” Scott said.
The contemporary play, which takes place in the 1960s and was written in 2002, won a Pulitzer-Prize for drama and received a Tony Award for Best Play in 2005. A movie, based on
the production called Doubt, was released in 2008 and starred Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
“This (production) has a really good pedigree and I’m looking forward to what our actors can do with it,” said Scott.
To purchase tickets to Doubt: A Parable call the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center Box Office at 580-559-5751 or go online to tickets.ecok.edu.
-ECU-