Artistic director Amiee Turner doubles as 'Doubt' director

Amiee Turner, Ocean State Theatre Company’s artistic director, has hired herself to direct the latest production at the Warwick theatre, and there is nobody more qualified to take on the assignment.

I sat down with Turner last week as she was gearing up for the second day of rehearsals of John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning “Doubt: A Parable.”

“As artistic director, I chose this play after reviewing the script because of Shanley’s precise, profound, topical and meaty writing,” Turner said.

“This is a play about faith, doubt and uncertainty,” she continued. “It is an extra special play.”

Turner, the director, said that she faces the challenge of “dealing with the words.”

“Shanley does not allow us to change his words, and we must honor the words on the page.”

“I first meet with the set designer, lighting designer and costume designer as we look at the total play from the outside in,” she said. “Modern playwrights do give us more leeway in the set design. We will use a sparse set, with stained glass, emphasizing the symbolism of the Catholic Church.”

Auditions are scheduled at the theatre over a three-day period.

“Everybody auditions for every role,” she said. “Occasionally, the director may have a specific person in mind for a role, but everybody still auditions.

“Our mission at OSTC is to reach as far out as we can to the [theatre] community to find the very best person for the role,” she said. “Unlike a number of theatres in Rhode Island, we are not a repertory company, and we do not have a core group of actors. We are required to have a certain number of equity [union] actors, but we also use non-equity and local actors.”

Once the cast is selected, the long, intense rehearsal period begins, lasting approximately two to three weeks, with three preview performances scheduled before the show officially opens.

“Once the show opens, you have to let go,” Turner said. “You have to respect the actor, who now owns the part. “It’s like a writer who submits his or her story to the editor.”

Turner is excited about Shanley’s “Doubt” and anticipates that there will be audience members who know nothing about the play and others who have seen it, or the movie, and have specific ideas about it.

Set during the civil rights era in 1964 at a Catholic school in the Bronx, the story focuses on Sister Aloysius, the school’s progressive principal. When a charismatic and popular priest is suspected of inappropriate behavior with a male student, the nun tries to get rid of him, jeopardizing both their careers.

Like Turner, I found “Doubt” to be an outstanding play of our times, a play that will challenge your beliefs to the utmost.

“Doubt: A Parable” is at the Ocean State Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick, November 2-20. Tickets are $34 to $49. Call 921-6800 for reservations.