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The Runner Stumbles

The Runner Stumbles
Your Price: $18.95 CDN
Author: Milan Stitt
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service (cover may change)
Format: Softcover
# of Pages: 71
Pub. Date: 1976
ISBN-10: 0822209756
ISBN-13: 9780822209751
Cast Size: 4 female, 5 male

About the Play:

The Runner Stumbles has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Male scene-study showcases.

The Runner Stumbles is a full-length drama by Milan Stitt. A young nun has died under mysterious circumstances in a remote parish in northern Michigan, and her superior, Father Rivard, has been charged with her murder. He had been banished to the small parish. The Runner Stumbles is about forbidden relationships, anguish, tragedy and sacrifice that make this a riveting story until its climatic end.

The Runner Stumbles is as much a love story, as it is a thriller, a mystery, a court room drama, and a who-dunnit? In fact, it is all of these things and more. It is a fascinating theatrical piece, which is based on real events that had happened in 1911 in rural Michigan. A young nun has died under mysterious circumstances in a remote parish in northern Michigan, and her superior, Father Rivard, has been charged with her murder. The action alternates between interrogations, testimony and scenes from the past which reveal that Father Rivard, who had been banished to the small, up-country parish, fell in love with Sister Rita; and when circumstances forced her to move into the rectory with him, his anguish became unbearable. Their relationship, inevitably, spelt tragedy, but not until the explosive and surprising climax of the play is the full extent of their sacrifice made clear and the identity of the murderer revealed. A powerful and compelling play, which had the unique distinction of receiving both Off-Broadway and repertory productions prior to its critically hailed Broadway presentation.

The Runner Stumbles was developed in the Boston University Playwrights Workshop at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and then in a showcase production at the Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) in 1974. It premiered in 1975 at the Hartman Theatre in Stamford, Connecticut. The production was a huge hit and opened on Broadway at the Little Theatre (now the Helen Hayes) in 1976 and was named that year's Best Broadway Play of 1976 in the Annual Best Plays Book. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has been mounted by high schools, colleges, and community theatres.

Cast: 4 female, 5 male

What people say:

"…an absolutely fascinating play…one of the best first plays I have seen in a long time. It got to me, and I cried." — New York Times

"…his story of repressed passions flames up with scorching intensity." — Cue Magazine

"…a new, serious, well-made, and continuously interesting American play…." — The New Yorker

"Why on earth isn't The Runner Stumbles revived more often? Milan Stitt's 1976 drama had a healthy Broadway run, ...requires a small cast and minimal production values, and is a smacking good play. Or rather, three smacking good plays: a courtroom drama, a whodunit, and a treatise on the acceptance and rejection of faith and why God has put us here." — Backstage

About the Playwright:

Milan Stitt (1941-2009) was an American playwright and educator. He studied at Albion College to become a priest before receiving his BA from the University of Michigan and MFA from the Yale School of Drama. He served in academia for much of his career. He was chairman of the playwriting program at the Yale School of Drama for four years. He also taught dramatic writing at Princeton University, University of Michigan and at New York University. He was awarded a university chair and was the Raymond W. Smith Professor of Dramatic Writing at Carnegie Mellon University.