By May 20 at Philadelphia's Merriam Theater, Tony Award winner Cherry Jones will have played Sr. Aloysius — the joyless, certainty-filled nun at a Bronx school in 1964 — 708 times, including Off-Broadway (at Manhattan Theatre Club) in 2004, Broadway in 2005 (when it won the Best Play Tony) and the tour.

Jones won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the role.

Her current touring cast mates are Chris McGarry as Father Flynn, Lisa Joyce as Sister James and Caroline Stefanie Clay as Mrs. Muller.

Doug Hughes staged the taut 90-minute drama about an older nun convinced that a young priest has acted inappropriately with a student. A young nun is caught between the two, and the boy's mother offers a surprising response to the relationship between priest and charge.

Hughes also won the Tony for directing the play, and Adriane Lenox was a Featured Actress Tony winner for playing the mom. A film version of the play is in the works and will star Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep.

Variety reported that Shanley will adapt the play and will direct the film for Miramax. Scott Rudin is producing the film, which begins production in New York on Dec. 1.

For information about the Philly engagement, call (215) 336-1234.

The Merriam Theater is located at 250 S. Broad St. at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.