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John Patrick Shanley's new drama Doubt is currently playing at Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre. The show originally opened Off Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club, and on April 4 it was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Our correspondent Ben Pesner recently caught up with Mr. Shanley by phone.

Ben Pesner: Though you have been produced Off Broadway many times, this is your first Broadway play. That must be wonderful for you.

John Patrick Shanley: As a writer, you reach a wider audience. There's a certain kind of iconic dream for a playwright to have your play on a marquee with flashing lights all around it, and people waiting on line at the box office. It's exciting.

Especially now that Doubt has won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

It's great. I won an Academy Award for Moonstruck in 1988, so my obituary was starting to look out of balance. [Laughs]

Right, because you have written so many works for the stage, as well as film. Despite all the success you've had in Hollywood, what draws you back to the theatre?

In the theatre you have a lot of true believers who see plays and work on them because they love it. Cherry Jones and Brían F. O'Byrne are extraordinary performers. They're both insanely committed to doing the show. The play is almost gladiatorial in style, and they play these two big people who go after each other with everything they have. That makes the sparks fly.

How has Doubt changed since you first began writing it, through its Off Broadway run at Manhattan Theatre Club, and now in its current Broadway staging?

I did a couple of [developmental] readings, during which I made very few alterations. That's when I figured out what the play was. When I went into rehearsals at MTC, I felt that the end was out of balance, so I made some changes during the first week. I thought they were really good, and the actors agreed. In the second week I made some more changes and they were all lousy, so I took them out. [Laughs]

Doubt is set at a very specific moment, a year after the Kennedy assassination. Was a more recent tragedy, like 9/11, in your thoughts as you wrote it?

I wrote the play during the invasion of Iraq, while listening to the federal government say we had all the evidence we needed to invade. I wondered if that was wise. Recently I have felt a real need for a more spacious conversation to take place in national forums. We need to re-introduce the concept of doubt as a quality of the wise, and not of the weak.

Sister Aloysius is a character in the tradition of strong women of faith like Joan of Arc. Are there particular women you thought of as models for Sister Aloysius?

Yes. I went to Catholic school in the Bronx for eight years. Some of those nuns were formidable. They had a specific view of the world, and they made you see it. Doubt is dedicated to the many orders of nuns who have given their lives to work with the most vulnerable parts of our society -- children, the old, and the sick. The play is not really about sexual abuse, it's about the clash of people who are certain and the people who are saying, "How can you be so sure?" It's about the birth of a modern sensibility in women. It's a passionate look at the role of women in the church both then and now, and where it's going.

Get information and tickets to Doubt.

"I'm a very lucky mommy, because I'll get to spend the first part of the day with my real-life children (who are the best kids ever!), and the second part of the day with my 'show daughter' (who is such a sweetheart), with a phone call to my mom (who taught me everything I know about being a mom) in between. What more could you ask for?"

-Carolee Carmello, playing Donna Sheridan in MAMMA MIA! at the Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre

"Ethel Thayer will be spending Mother's Day with Norman and Chelsea and their son-in-law Bill and his son Billy Jr. on Golden Pond. The women will be cooking and the men will be fishing!"

-Leslie Uggams, playing Ethel Thayer in ON GOLDEN POND at the Cort Theatre

"When we had Dennis (now Sir Galahad), his father (Nobby the Cretin, deceased) felt threatened by our bond. But we are living proof that you can nurse a child up until age 15 without significant mental damage. It has done wonders for my figure, too. Call me, I'm available!"

-Mrs. Galahad of SPAMALOT at the Shubert Theatre as played by Steve Rosen

"She's doing a matinee...I'm a working mother."

-Maureen McGovern, playing Marmee in LITTLE WOMEN at the Virginia Theatre

"Not letting a profitable moment go by, Matron 'Mama' Morton will be taking care of those who aren't as fortunate as Martha Stewart and still behind bars: 'For $50 bucks I'll personally call your mother and wish her a happy Mother's Day.'"

-Matron "Mama" Morton of CHICAGO at the Ambassador Theatre as played by Mary Testa

"Margaret Johnson is going back to Florence with Clara. They will go up to the top of the Duomo... they'll take a drive into Tuscan country to a town called Montaione and perhaps stop and buy some shoes at Ferragamo... they'll have some hazelnut gelato on the Piazzale Michelango and Fabrizio is invited to join them, if he's free... It will be a full day..."

--Victoria Clark, playing Margaret Johnson in THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre

"I haven't been out of the house since Mamie Eisenhower rolled her hose and bobbed her bangs, so my husband, Wilbur, and my daughter, Tracy, serve me breakfast in bed, which lasts about eight hours, then we watch thin women play golf on the TV. Someday I will be able to get into one of those skirts. Since it's a holiday, we order take-out, but I sit at the dining room table and wear a corsage."

-Edna Turnblad of HAIRSPRAY at the Neil Simon Theatre as played by Bruce Villanch

"On Mother's Day, I look forward to: getting hit by a meat truck; having breakfast in bed, if my daughter can drag her cross across the room; getting a sweet card from my son, written in blood; a beautiful new set of electrodes; continuing to respect terrible mothers everywhere; family therapy. Happy Mother's Day."

--Mother of THE PILLOWMAN at the Booth Theatre, as played by Virginia Louise Smith

Just ask Sara Kramer and Carolee Carmello of Broadway's Mamma Mia! The Broadway Visa Gift Card™ makes a great Mother's Day gift. Available in various denominations, it can be used to purchase tickets to any show at the 39 Broadway playhouses in New York, as well as at theaters in the 140 other cities that touring Broadway shows visit every year. Tickets can be obtained in person at the box office, by telephone, on the Internet — wherever Visa debit cards are accepted. Click here to learn more!

The Fox Theatre in St. Louis opened in 1929 as one of the crown jewels in William Fox's motion picture empire. With a seating capacity of 5,060, the Fox was second in size only to New York's Roxy Theatre at that time. It was also one of the first theaters in the country equipped for "talking" films. The elaborate decor was called "Siamese-Byzantine" and provided a feast for the eyes with magnificent staircases, jewel-encrusted columns, cloisonne elephants and walls and ceilings adorned with exotic animals.

This magnificent restored movie palace has become the center of entertainment for the St. Louis metropolitan area since its restoration and grand re-opening in 1982. With programming that ranges from Broadway shows to top concert acts, comedy stars and family productions, the Fox has something for everyone!

Click here for more photos of The Fox Theatre.

Click here to visit The Fox Theatre on the web.

The 2005 Tony Awards®

-May is Tony season on the Great White Way! The nominations for the American Theatre Wing’s 59th annual Tony Awards will be announced on Tuesday, May 10 at 8:30am (ET). Visit TonyAwards.com for live audio feed of the announcement, as well as information about Tony-related events and video interviews with nominees. Hugh Jackman returns to host the 2005 Tony ceremony, which will be broadcast on CBS on Sunday, June 5. The Tonys are presented by the League of American Theatres and Producers and the American Theatre Wing.

Touring Broadway Awards

Broadway shows visit as many as 140 cities across North America on tour each year. On May 5, the League of American Theatres and Producers will announce the winners of the 2005 Touring Broadway Awards, which celebrate excellence in touring Broadway by honoring the artists and productions who log many miles as they bring Broadway to an entire continent.

Visit TouringBroadwayAwards.com for more information.

On May 9, 2005, the Plymouth Theatre (236 West 45th Street) will become the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre and the Royale Theatre (242 West 45th Street) will become the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. The Board of the Shubert Organization, which owns these theatres, took this action at a September 30 meeting to recognize the outstanding contributions made by Mr. Schoenfeld and Mr. Jacobs to the company, the theatre community and the City of New York. Gerald Schoenfeld has been the Chairman of the Shubert Organization since 1972. Bernard B. Jacobs was President from 1972 until his death in 1996.

The Plymouth Theatre, to be renamed the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, was built in 1917. Its history includes such plays as What Price Glory?, Pride and Prejudice, The Caine Mutiny, The Odd Couple, and Equus, featuring such players as John Barrymore, Laurette Taylor, Tallulah Bankhead, Mary Martin, Yul Brynner, Richard Burton, Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert. It currently houses Brooklyn the Musical.

The Royale Theatre, to be renamed the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, was built in 1927. It's history includes such plays as Diamond Lil, The Magnificent Yankee, The Corn is Green, The Glass Menagerie, The Front Page, DuBarry Was a Lady, and The Entertainer featuring such players as Mae West, Bert Lahr, Bette Davis, Ethel Merman, James Dean, Julie Andrews, John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier. Its current tenant is David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross.