BY BERT OSBORNE

"DOUBT" (Alliance Theatre)—Did he or didn’t he? Artistic director Susan Booth staged a scintillating, magnificently measured version of this Pulitzer Prize-winner about a Catholic priest—and possible pedophile—at a Bronx boys school in 1964. For all of its stunning production values, a number of thoughtful performances grounded the drama. Thomas Piper brought an arresting ambiguity to the priest, while Cara Mantella (as an impressionable young nun) and Donna Biscoe (as the "victim"’s rational mother) provided excellent support.
 
"GREAT EXPECTATIONS" (Georgia Ensemble Theatre)—As if turning a new page in the troupe’s reliance on overly mundane scripts, artistic director Robert Farley and company rose to unprecedented heights with this ambitious and classy rendition of the famous Dickens novel. Among the large, stellar cast: Chris Moses, Joanna Daniel, Chad Martin, Dori Garziano, Meredith Woolard and, most notably, Harrison Long (as Magwitch). For once, the sprawling scope of the material was appropriate to the group’s often-cavernous performance space.
 
"IN DARFUR" (Horizon Theatre)—Co-artistic director Lisa Adler’s pressing and atmospheric drama put us right in the midst of genocide in the Sudan. Ingeniously cast against their prim-and-proper and goofy-sidekick types, respectively, Elizabeth Wells Berkes played a gutsy reporter, and Eric Mendenhall was a dashing medic. Michele McCullough Hazard portrayed the imperiled Darfuri woman around whom they rally. Several action sequences crackled with tension, and no less gripping was the personal, humanitarian story at its heart.
 
"INDULGENCES" (Dad’s Garage)—As frantic and zany as anything else from this company (renowned for its raucous improv), artistic director Kate Warner matched all of the well-timed silliness with snatches of real substance about spirituality and human desire. Overlapping subplots involved a couple of (newly gay) characters from "Macbeth" (Tim Stoltenberg, Rene Dellefont) and a contemporary king and commoner (Chris Blair, Tony Larkin) who swap lives—unified by the inexhaustible Matthew Myers as an affable "afterlife" insurance salesman.
 
"THE LAST SCHWARTZ" (Jewish Theatre of the South)—Sentimental factors alone might have made director Freddie Ashley’s show an obvious shoo-in for this list—it brought to an end the group’s 13-year history (under the guidance of Mira Hirsch)—but as dysfunctional family comedies go, it stood on its own merits. Chief among them was an extraordinary cast (see "Top Five Ensembles"). Call me sentimental, but the last scene of this last JTS production will be a lasting memory.
 
"MEDS" (Out of Hand)—The bad thing about this troupe’s approach to creating its projects: They put so much time into it, we only get one per season. The good thing: It can yield a piece like this innovative, fantastical lampoon of the health care system and the pharmaceutical industry. But the great thing is: A second chance for another dose, when they remount it next month. Co-artistic director Maia Knispel’s actors truly rocked (see "Top Five Ensembles"). Ditto for Oz Dillman’s set.
 
"THE MERCHANT OF VENICE" (Georgia Shakespeare)—Mmm, that pound of crow flesh sure was tasty. After keeping mum for years, I finally put it in print—that maybe we’ve had enough of Shakespeare—and did director Sabin Epstein ever prove me wrong. Anchored by Chris Kayser’s masterful Shylock and Park Krausen’s luminous Portia, handsomely designed (set by Leslie Taylor, lights by Mike Post, costumes by Christine Turbitt), the play felt fresh and immediate, as though we hadn’t seen it all before.
 
"OH, WHAT A LOVELY WAR!" (Theater Emory)—Who says I don’t like musicals? Director Donald McManus’ lively revue transported us to a World War I-era British music hall for an assortment of political skits and period songs (under Bryan Mercer’s solid music direction). Standouts in the professional/student cast included Ronn Smith and Blake Covington. The show was occasionally irreverent, but never irrelevant. Touching vignettes about boys battling in the German trenches could’ve been told from modern-day Iraq.
 
"PURE CONFIDENCE" (Theatrical Outfit)—Bolstered by a formidable cast—led by Eugene Russell, James Donadio, Marianne Fraulo and Jade Lambert-Smith—director Gary Yates crafted a compelling Civil War story about an enterprising slave who jockeys (in more ways than one) to earn his freedom. The play was beautifully balanced, which kept it from seeming preachy or didactic: The black characters weren’t all good, nor all the whites bad, and the women were as well-drawn as the men.
 
"WHEN SOMETHING WONDERFUL ENDS" (Actor’s Express)—Much like the oddity that the Shakespeare Tavern’s better work tends to be non-Bard stuff, artistic director Freddie Ashley’s finest hour of the season was one of his company’s rare non-"gay" plays. This one-woman show ran the gamut—addressing everything from Barbie collectibles and family dynamics to the environment and Mideast politics. So did Vicki Ellis Gray, whose accomplished performance was by turns warm and wise—gently emotional, plainly considered, altogether real.
 
 HONORABLE MENTION
 
"THE CLEAN HOUSE" (Horizon)—What can I say? Honestly, I didn’t want two shows from the same company on the list. "In Darfur" felt more challenging and important. Maybe I should’ve simply flipped a coin . . .
 
"A SONG FOR CORETTA" (7 Stages)—Besides two casting changes, it was essentially a replica of the powerful Spelman premiere that made last year’s list, so it didn’t seem fair to single it out again. SP