Runner Stumbles: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Subpoena?

Picture it:  Solon, Michigan.  1911.  A young nun is found dead, and when rumor gets around that she was living in the rectory with the local priest, he is accused of her murder, and put on trial.  Milan Stitt's 1975 religious-themed potboiler The Runner Stumbles is a classic story of forbidden love, set amongst the Naughty Habits of a gritty small town.  It's so classic, it's been ripped off many many times (if indeed this was the first time this style of angst was portrayed onstage) and therefore sometimes feels cliché, but this new revival by The Actors Company Theatre (TACT) breathes life into some difficult ideas.

The vagaries of the plot are predictable (I figured out the big finale secret by the third scene, and so might anyone who's ever seen a murder mystery before), but it's the journey to the ostensibly startling dénouement that makes this production worth watching. 

Father Rivard (Mark L. Montgomery) has been accused of murdering Sister Rita (Ashley West), and, professing his innocence to his rather green attorney (Chris Hietikko), he is brought to trial.  In flashbacks, more and more of Rivard's relationships are revealed- those with his cook Mrs. Shandig (a truly excellent Cynthia Darlow); with the grudge-bearing monsignor (James Murtaugh) who consigned Rivard to Solon for a minor infraction; with townsfolk Erna (Julie Jesneck) and Louise (Christina Bennet Lind); and of course with the doomed Sister Rita herself (Ashley West), interspersed with courtroom scenes featuring all of the above being cross-examined by the Prosecutor (Jaime Bennett).

Very occasionally the play lapses into melodrama, but what makes this play great and interesting is the psychological conflict between Rivard and Rita, which illustrates the schizophrenia of the Catholic mindset- Rivard represents the draconian rules and order of the Old Testament with all the angst and pain that goes with that, while Rita is in tune with the softer, loving, New Testament.  It's notable that the forbidden emotions are those of love, not of lust- it's Rivard's ascent into love that drives him to the depths of despair.  Their passions, at first kept in check with Chekhovian subtext, are what elevate this tawdry tale to that of epic grandeur. 

Most of the performances are excellent, especially Mark L. Montgomery's tortured Rivard.  Cynthia Darlow's heart-lacerating performance as new convert Mrs. Shandig is pristine.  Sister Rita is almost irritating at the beginning of the play (as many Polyannas are), but Ashley West slowly reveals the guts beneath the Mary Poppins till we care deeply for her and her ideals.  Christina Bennett Lind has two hilarious scenes as the lovestruck Lillian Hellmanesque schoolgirl Louise.  Christopher Halladay is raucous and scummy as jail-keeper Amos.  Chris Hietikko is amusingly fastidious as the attorney.  Julie Jesneck blows the roof off the place as the perpetually haunted and hysterical Erna- her scene in the witness box had me blinking away tears. 

The direction by Scott Alan Evans is accomplished, letting the play go to the dark places it needs to visit.

Daryl Bornstein's sound design is lovely, as is the music by Joseph Trapanese, costumes by David Toser are great, and Dana Moran Williams' set design is simple and evocative of both the jail and the church, with tantalizing glimpses of cloud in the back.

THE RUNNER STUMBLES
By Milan Stitt
Directed by Scott Alan Evans
Begins October 28; Opens November 4 - November 24, 2007
Production schedule: Monday, Thursday, Friday at 7:30, Saturday at 2 & 8 and Sunday at 3PM.
Wednesday, 10/31 at 7:30; Tuesday, 11/20 at 7:30 – no performance on 11/23
The Beckett Theatre is located at 410 West 42^nd Street
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at Ticket Central by phone 212 279 4200 or online at www.tactnyc.org

Photos by Jennifer Maufrais: Ashley West as Sister Rita and Mark L. Montgomery as Father Rivard; Cynthia Darlow as Mrs. Shandig, Ashley West as Sister Rita and Mark L. Montgomery as Father Rivard