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I spent nearly a day trying to think of a way to adequately convey the power of Lisa Morgan's performance in Florida Repertory Theatre's new production of the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play “Doubt, A Parable,” and in the end, I'm just going to have to go with “She acted the hell out of that thing.”

Thank God, too, because the intense and dialogue-heavy play absolutely would not have worked without an iron-willed actress in the habit of Sister Aloysius Beauvier.

“Doubt“ is, quite literally, a play about doubt — and the way it creeps into the corners of your mind and destroys your faith. It's also about the many guises of truth, love, idealism, the struggle of the old vs. the new, and above all, faith. During 90 taut minutes, “Doubt“ offers up a heady lesson — complete with parables — on the perils of carrying a single conviction to an absolute end in spite of the consequences.

Set at a 1964 Catholic school, hard-line disciplinarian and school principal Sister Aloysius suspects the more modern Father Flynn of molesting one of Donald Muller, the first black student at the school. Convinced of Father Flynn's guilt, Sister Aloysius confronts the young Sister Kate, who reports the smell of alcohol on Donald's breath after returning from a visit to the rectory. Armed only with this evidence and her rock-solid belief that wrongdoing has been done, Sister Aloysius begins a campaign to destroy Father Flynn.

Playwright John Patrick Shanley, the prolific writer who won an Oscar for his screenplay of “Moonstruck,” has crafted an impressive layer cake of scenes, each one as notable as the last for what the four characters don’t say as for what they do.

An opening monologue sees Father Flynn delivering a sermon on the subject of “doubt,” setting the minds of the audience in motion on the ruminations of such a provocative subject.

And Shanley himself has said that the second act of “Doubt” is one that takes place on the car ride home, in bars and in restaurants as the audience debates what really did happen inside the walls of the school.

Lisa Morgan (Sister Aloysius) is the very picture of an aged Catholic matron, secure in her faith and her Lord God and nothing else. Dressed in her severe black habit and with a rosary clicking by her side, her face granite and her look stern, she seemed an immovable mountain of conviction.

Morgan's stentorian voice and regal attitude served only to reinforce the weight of her character's beliefs. She rumbled through her lines with a voice that could scour paint off walls. Morgan hits her notes with steely vigor, but she truly shines when given an adequate foil to play against. Fortunately, Patrictia Idlette (Mrs. Muller) takes up that challenge. Idlette, as the mother of the student at the center of the controversy, takes all of Sister Aloysius' righteous indignation and knocks it right down her habit-swathed throat.

Idlette, whom cable audiences may recognize from her turn as sage pancake house waitress Kiffany in Showtime's “Dead Like Me,” only appears in one scene, but makes the most of it. In a showdown in Sister Aloysius' office, the good Mrs. Muller seems to stick her head in the sand, refusing to give credence to the Sister's accusations. She supports her son's friendship with Father Flynn, and plants further seeds of doubt by hinting that the situation with the good Father may not be unique for Donald.

Sister Aloysius refuses to accept this — and faces off with Mrs. Muller. The resulting battle sees the two ladies tossing veiled barbs at each other like heavyweight boxers throwing punches. It was pure theater and indeed a rare pleasure to watch two talented actresses trading such great lines in a hushed house.

I have to admit that I groaned a inwardly when Brendan Powers began Father Flynn's opening sermon in a Irish accent which then seemed to wander in and out throughout the night. Powers surprised me, though, gradually finding his legs in the show and proving an able verbal sparring partner for Sister Aloysius. His Father Flynn is good but not great: It feels like Powers is having to work a little too hard to manufacture the emotions that fuel his character.

However, Powers does deliver during Father Flynn's denouement with Sister Aloysius.

The tense confrontation in the Sister's office crackled with raw drama: Sister Aloysius, face flushed and habit mussed, is desperate to stop a man she believes to be evil; Father Flynn, gobsmacked that a woman who had given her life to God would go so far as to destroy his life.

The two titans of theological training meet in a final struggle as accusations fly — and it surely seemed that only one would emerge standing. The audience was riveted to their seats the entire time and I heard only one or two squeaks as chairs were adjusted. It was that good.

My only real problem with “Doubt“ was Rachel Burttram, who played junior nun Sister James. Burttram choose to give voice to the idealistic and naive Sister Kate in a quavering, breathy tone that dropped to barely a whisper at times. I was hoping for more derring-do and less giggly ingenue, but it didn't happen. And to be fair, most of the play's comedic moments come on Sister James's watch and Burttram landed those lines well.

How does it end? Sister Aloysius sits on a bench in the garden and she tells Sister James “I have doubts. I have such doubts.”

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If you go

“Doubt, a Parable“

When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays - Saturday, with 2 p.m. matinees on Wednesdays and Sundays through through Feb. 3

Where: Florida Repertory Theatre, on Bay Street between Hendry and Jackson streets in Fort Myers.

Cost: $34 and $38

Information: (239) 332-4488 or online at floridarep.org.