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The Runner Stumbles
Book by STITT, Milan
72 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
About the author
Milan Stitt
6 books1 followerMilan Stitt was an American playwright and educator.
Milan Stitt was born in Detroit, Michigan; he graduated from Cooley High School in 1959. Stitt then 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. At Michigan, he studied play-writing with Kenneth Thorpe Rowe.
As a writer, Stitt was best known for his play based on real-life Michigan events, The Runner Stumbles, named best Broadway Play of 1976 in the annual Best Plays book. The film version of his screenplay was directed by Stanley Kramer with Dick Van Dyke, Kathleen Quinlan, Beau Bridges, Ray Bolger and Tammy Grimes.
A long-time member of the Circle Repertory Company, his plays produced there included The Runner Stumbles with William Hurt, Back in the Race and Labor Day, which he wrote and directed for Christopher Reeve.
Stitt wrote teleplays and mini-series for all the networks. His CBS television movie, The Gentleman Bandit, was the most-watched film of the season, and Long Shadow, for American Playhouse was nominated in 1996 for an International Emmy as Best Teleplay. His articles on theatre and travel appeared in The New York Times and Horizon Magazine.
Stitt worked as a producer and in various administrative capacities at American Shakespeare Festival, Long Wharf Theatre, American Place Theatre and Circle Repertory Company. At the Circle Repertory Company he founded the play development program and served as a dramaturg with such writers as Bill C. Davis, Albert Innaurato, Arthur Kopit, David Mamet, Lanford Wilson and Paul Zindel. For two years, he served as Executive Director of Circle Repertory Company producing premiere productions featuring artists Stephen Dietz, Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Heelan, Kikue Tashiro, Fritz Weaver and Louis Zorich.
Stitt was chairman of the play-writing 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 is now the Raymond W. Smith Professor of Dramatic Writing at Carnegie Mellon University.
Among his recent productions were Places We've Lived for the Pittsburgh New Plays Festival in June 2005. His libretto, co-written with choreographer Terrence Orr, for The Nutcracker continues in repertory at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
For several years, he served as an Adjudicator for the Ohio University Playwrights Festival and served as a mentor for Ensemble Studio Theater's Next Step Program. He frequently taught workshops and adjudicated new plays for Oakland, Michigan's Heartlande Theatre. He was a member of the Dramatists Guild, Writers Guild of America, Author's League of America, P.E.N., the Eugene O'Neill Society and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Milan Stitt was born in Detroit, Michigan; he graduated from Cooley High School in 1959. Stitt then 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. At Michigan, he studied play-writing with Kenneth Thorpe Rowe.
As a writer, Stitt was best known for his play based on real-life Michigan events, The Runner Stumbles, named best Broadway Play of 1976 in the annual Best Plays book. The film version of his screenplay was directed by Stanley Kramer with Dick Van Dyke, Kathleen Quinlan, Beau Bridges, Ray Bolger and Tammy Grimes.
A long-time member of the Circle Repertory Company, his plays produced there included The Runner Stumbles with William Hurt, Back in the Race and Labor Day, which he wrote and directed for Christopher Reeve.
Stitt wrote teleplays and mini-series for all the networks. His CBS television movie, The Gentleman Bandit, was the most-watched film of the season, and Long Shadow, for American Playhouse was nominated in 1996 for an International Emmy as Best Teleplay. His articles on theatre and travel appeared in The New York Times and Horizon Magazine.
Stitt worked as a producer and in various administrative capacities at American Shakespeare Festival, Long Wharf Theatre, American Place Theatre and Circle Repertory Company. At the Circle Repertory Company he founded the play development program and served as a dramaturg with such writers as Bill C. Davis, Albert Innaurato, Arthur Kopit, David Mamet, Lanford Wilson and Paul Zindel. For two years, he served as Executive Director of Circle Repertory Company producing premiere productions featuring artists Stephen Dietz, Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Heelan, Kikue Tashiro, Fritz Weaver and Louis Zorich.
Stitt was chairman of the play-writing 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 is now the Raymond W. Smith Professor of Dramatic Writing at Carnegie Mellon University.
Among his recent productions were Places We've Lived for the Pittsburgh New Plays Festival in June 2005. His libretto, co-written with choreographer Terrence Orr, for The Nutcracker continues in repertory at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
For several years, he served as an Adjudicator for the Ohio University Playwrights Festival and served as a mentor for Ensemble Studio Theater's Next Step Program. He frequently taught workshops and adjudicated new plays for Oakland, Michigan's Heartlande Theatre. He was a member of the Dramatists Guild, Writers Guild of America, Author's League of America, P.E.N., the Eugene O'Neill Society and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 10, 2012
I read this book donkey years ago and have never forgotten it. I would really like to read it again if I could get hold of a copy of the book.
The Runner Stumbles is about the trial of a priest accused of murdering a nun from his parish in a small mining town. It is a story about crime and punishment, sin and guilt. On a deeper level, it is an exploration of the pressure of a religious calling. It brings the readers to exercise their values in regards to the conflict between duty and love, institutional obligation and personal needs. Indeed it is thought provoking.
The Runner Stumbles is about the trial of a priest accused of murdering a nun from his parish in a small mining town. It is a story about crime and punishment, sin and guilt. On a deeper level, it is an exploration of the pressure of a religious calling. It brings the readers to exercise their values in regards to the conflict between duty and love, institutional obligation and personal needs. Indeed it is thought provoking.
May 25, 2025
This works makes the readers who are familiar with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, “The Scarlett Letter” give some time to think about the life priests and nuns have and the consequences of their choices in such a life. It’s a play that is mostly based on a plot immersed in religious sort of life, experiences and conducts. It follows a traditional kind of plot. That is, it’s neither mini-plot nor anti-plot, but it’s arch plot. It has also chronological order of time and events with establishing the setting, introducing characters, conflicts (internal and external), crisis, and then resolution and denouement. I read it more as a story than a play.
July 26, 2018
I read this play in high school. It was both shocking and engrossing.
In the play, a priest falls in love with a nun in a small Michigan town. This is kept as their secret once finally confessed...but someone else knows. Someone who takes it as a religious duty to stamp out this sin...or is it in response to jealousy?
In the play, there is a direct confrontation presented between the nun and her murderer.
In the True Crime novel about the same incident, Isadore's Secret by Mardi Jo Link, the incidents and investigation of this crime are given in much more detail, less for dramatic effect, and more for telling the story of what is actually known about what happened.
In the play, a priest falls in love with a nun in a small Michigan town. This is kept as their secret once finally confessed...but someone else knows. Someone who takes it as a religious duty to stamp out this sin...or is it in response to jealousy?
In the play, there is a direct confrontation presented between the nun and her murderer.
In the True Crime novel about the same incident, Isadore's Secret by Mardi Jo Link, the incidents and investigation of this crime are given in much more detail, less for dramatic effect, and more for telling the story of what is actually known about what happened.
October 17, 2019
Heavy stuff but wow
January 4, 2020
Prepping for an audition. This was an intense lil play!
Read
October 23, 2021for acting class to get more context of a scene i’m performing!
June 6, 2013
Read with Portland Playreaders
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews