WHETHER onstage or offstage, actor Shelia Allen is quite a character. Even down the phone, her personality strikes like a warm and friendly tornado. The former Texan moved to Melbourne in 2003 to marry a man she had met on the internet. It was a leap of faith, but such leaps aren’t unusual for Allen, who says she’s always up for a new challenge. In taking to the boards for Williamstown Little Theatre’s production of Doubt, she might just have found her greatest challenge yet.
Set in 1964, Doubt sees Sister Aloysius, principal of a Bronx parish school, investigate a priest she suspects of abusing the only African-American pupil at her school. It was a time of great civil uprising in the US, as policies of segregation began to unravel. Allen takes on the role of the boy’s mother — a part made famous by Viola Davis, who won an Oscar nomination for the 2008 film adaptation.
“My role is not a big part of the play, but it has such an impact,” Allen says.
“I’m telling Aloysius that she has to keep her mouth shut. This is a difficult time in African-American history and I just want something good to come out of this.”
Perhaps oddly, it was a period of history that Allen, herself an African-American, knew nothing about. “My mother kept a lot of this from me. I grew up in Europe as a military brat, so I never went through segregation. I wasn’t aware of a lot of these things. It was really shocking to me.”
She also has tales to tell about her acting career back in Texas, where she worked with everyone from Dallas’s J.R. Ewing to tough guy Chuck Norris.
These days, her day job is running a recruitment company with the Melbourne man she met and married after a whirlwind romance.
“We sent each other 500 emails in six weeks. I said I’d come here and see how things go. He said he wanted to be with me every day and I thought, well, we’ll have to start a company together.”
It was a leap Allen clearly doesn’t regret. She speaks about her adopted city in the gushing, infatuated tone common to late arrivals, claiming she still feels on holiday after a decade living and working here. The chance to take part in the Melbourne theatre scene has provided yet another reason to adore the place.
Doubt: A Parable runs until this Saturday at the Williamstown Little Theatre. Details: wlt.org.au
