Video: How Doubt: A Parable Is Still Relevant Nearly 20 Years Later

Doubt: A Parable has begun its preview performances and prepares for its opening night on February 29 at the Todd Haimes Theatre. Before the announcement of Tyne Daly's abrupt departure from the show, the cast sat down with Playbill to talk about the importance of bringing this Tony Award-winning play back to Broadway after nearly two decades. See the creative team and the current cast of Doubt talk about the show's continuing resonance in the video above.

Set in an all-boys Catholic school in the Bronx of 1964, drama ensues when the strict Sister Aloysius suspects an inappropriate relationship between Father Flynn and a student.

The play opens with a priest giving a sermon. Playwright John Patrick Shanley marks this as the moment in which, "like it or not, the audience becomes aware or realizes that they are a congregation and that this congregation is going to be taken through this play on a journey, a spiritual, philosophical journey, the outcome of which they don't know," Shanley says. He won the Tony Award for Best Play when Doubt was first on Broadway in 2005.

Quincy Tyler Bernstine, who plays Mrs. Muller (the mother of the boy who is allegedly assaulted by a priest), explains why the themes of the play still remain relevant today. "It was timely then, it's still timely now unfortunately with the state of the Catholic church still dealing with some issues," Bernstine says. "We're in a fraught political climate. 1964 was a fraught political climate so I feel like there are so many parallels."

Shanley highlights the contrasts in audience members since its Broadway debut and underscores what a new audience brings to the table in this revival.

"The audience is coming in with an entirely different sensibility because the first time we did this show, there were probably a few people in the audience who'd experienced a cultural earthquake. And now everyone in the audience has experienced a cultural earthquake," Shanley says.

The cast features the Tony-nominated Amy Ryan, who will be taking over for Daly in the role of Sister Aloysius, Tony winner Liev Scheiber as Father Flynn, Zoe Kazan as Sister James, and Quincy Tyler Bernstine as Mrs. Muller. Rounding out the company are understudies Christiana Clark, Olivia Cygan, Isabel Keating, and Chris McGarry. Casting is by Jim Carnahan and Carrie Gardner.

Directed by Scott Ellis, the production is supported by a creative team that includes scenic designer David Rockwell, lighting designer Kenneth Posner, costume designer Linda Cho, sound designer Mikaal Sulaiman, hair and wig designer Charles G. LaPointe, and vocal coach Kate Wilson. Charles Means serves as the production stage manager. See photos of the cast and creative team below.