This post was written by Hatchet reporter Jesslyn Angelia.

When you leave the Lisner Auditorium Downstage after watching Generic Theatre Company’s first full-length production of the semester, you’ll likely be left with unanswered questions – and that’s entirely intentional.

“Doubt: A Parable,” written by John Patrick Shanley, focuses on the power of words and how uncertainty defines human nature.

Set in 1964 at a Catholic school in the Bronx, the play centers on a conflict that arises between progressive parish priest Father Flynn and the school’s more conservative principal Sister Aloysius as she grows suspicious of inappropriate behavior between the priest and the school’s first African-American student, Donald.

The cast of characters, including a young and naïve nun, the boy’s struggling mother, the charismatic, mysterious priest and the shrewdly traditional Sister Aloysius, toys with the audience members’ minds even after the play ends.

“I really want the audience to leave having a dialogue,” director Lianna Havel, a junior, said. “Right away the instinct of the people who go to the show should be to ask the people they came with, ‘Is he guilty? Is he not guilty?’ ”

Havel said directing the show was a challenge as the actors sometimes have different visions of the play.

“I have to collaborate with them, which makes the play stronger in the end,” Havel said.

Sophomore Francisca Cromwell, who plays Donald’s mother, said that the biggest challenge in acting her character was knowing everything about her, including her thoughts.

“I had to decide what I think my character believes about the situation,” Cromwell said.

David Huppert, a sophomore, plays Father Flynn. Huppert also said that this is his most challenging role yet.

“It’s challenging because you have to make a decision as to his innocence or guilt,” Huppert said.

Havel said that she hopes the audience will come to the show with an open mind.

“People can misconstrue the play as anti-Catholic, and I honestly don’t think it’s that. I don’t think it’s anti-faith or anti-religion. I think if anything it’s a celebration of human emotions, of doubt, of certainty, of pursuing something we believe in that makes up faith,” she said.

The play was made into an Oscar-nominated film in 2008 starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

“Doubt: A Parable” premiered at Lisner Auditorium Downstage Oct. 18 and will continue through Saturday night.