NEW YORK
USA Today
By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — At least one Tony voter didn't cast his ballot for John Patrick Shanley's play Doubt, and that's the playwright himself.
"Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman is really good," Shanley says, referring to the London import considered Doubt's stiffest competition. He and McDonagh have become friends, Shanley adds. Since the former isn't a voter — most authors voting are members of the leadership of the Dramatists Guild — "I said, 'I'll vote for you,' " Shanley says. "Then he asked, 'What about the actors (in Pillowman)?' I told him he only got one."
Shanley can afford to be generous. Doubt already has nabbed the Pulitzer Prize and numerous other honors, capping what has been a banner season for the 54-year-old Bronx native. Last fall saw three productions of his work off-Broadway, including Sailor's Song and the revival Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. Doubt, enhanced by powerhouse performances by Cherry Jones and Brian F. O'Byrne, transferred to Broadway in March.
O'Byrne, cast as a priest suspected of child molestation by Jones' Catholic school principal, describes working with Shanley as "watching someone at the top of his game, totally in sync with himself."
Posted by kshaw at June 3, 2005 07:34 AM