Quotable Quotes: Confessions of the Cast of Doubt
WHAT: The opening night party
WHERE: Supper Club
WHEN: March 31, 2005
"It's four of the great chocolate truffles you could have in one box." --Playwright John Patrick Shanley on the cast
"Doug Hughes kept making me make her more and more appalling. I live for the day where he says, 'You know you can soften her a little bit in this place' But I don't think it's going to happen." --Cherry Jones the director's take on her character
"It's the best feeling in the entire world to just hear explosive laughter then contract into pin drop silence." --Director Doug Hughes on audience response
"My first reaction was I didn't think it was good. Thankfully, I'm a dumb actor and there are better people like [director] Doug Hughes and [playwright John Patrick] Shanley, himself who know this is a great script. And they go, 'Brían, you're dumb!' And I go, 'Thank you, Doug!' And I go ahead and do it." --Brían F. O'Byrne on his first reaction to the script
"Most of the time I'm in my dressing room because I come in late in the play. I have my music on and I'm dancing and bouncing around stuff, getting myself ready." --Adriane Lenox whose character, Mrs. Muller enters late in the play on how she spends her time
"It's a wonderful way to have a Broadway debut." --Heather Goldenhersh, who plays Sister James
"It doesn't happen so often, but I read the first sentence and I knew I wanted to do it." --Director Doug Hughes
"It's an hour and a half, but it's really longer then that because the people continue to talk about it. It's quite something to talk about." --Adriane Lenox on the play's impact
"You can really feel the hair on people's necks bristling. Sometimes you'll hear them--they'll gasp or they'll tsk or they'll hiss. That's fun." --Cherry Jones on audience reaction
"The world has changed and off-Broadway is a big part of what new plays are about. Once in a while, a play breaks out of the off-Broadway scene and comes to Broadway, and that's a special event and celebration for all of us." --John Patrick Shanley on finally making his Broadway debut
"I think that this play contains the kind of anxiety and confusion and deep uncertainty that's abroad in the land about almost anything." --Doug Hughes
"If they're swaying a certain way towards Cherry's character or more towards me and that's when the two actors, myself and Cherry, can start to play a little bit to win the attention of the audiences." --Brían F. O'Byrne on playing for the audience's sympathy
"I'm a Methodist from Tennessee. I feel a little guilty playing her. I feel like some Catholic actress should be playing her." --Cherry Jones on playing Sister Aloysius
"I love that it's not black and white. So many complications to things and not many easy answers." --Heather Goldenhersh on the twists in the play
"I knew that something really assured and powerful was going to unfold in this play. So I knew then. I read it in a sitting and I couldn't believe my good fortune. And I said yes. This all happened within about an hour." --Doug Hughes on taking on Doubt as a directing project
Interviews by Paul Wontorek
Compiled by Alixandra Liner