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The Runner Stumbles
The Runner Stumbles
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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
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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.
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