Shanley was born into an Irish-American family in The Bronx, New York City. His mother worked as a telephone operator, and his father was a meat-packer. The neighborhood Shanley grew up in was considered very rough.\n', '

His academic career did not begin well, but ultimately he graduated from New York University with honors. In his program bio for the Broadway production of Doubt: A Parable, he mentions that he was "thrown out of St. Helena\'s kindergarten, banned from St. Anthony\'s hot lunch program and expelled from Cardinal Spellman High School." He was heavily influenced by one of his first teachers, Sister Margaret McEntee, who he based the character of Sister James on in his play, Doubt.\n', '

While at Cardinal Spellman High School he saw two school productions that influenced him. The Miracle Worker and Cyrano de Bergerac.\n', '

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