Running Away From The One With The Knife is a play about suicide and religious faith. It’s a memorial and an exorcism for a woman named Christina; it’s the story of her sister, and the monk who is their friend. And none of them are particularly reliable. It’s a stark, slapstick death, in a dreamed kitchen, between half-heard pasts and the present retelling. The play is terse, allusive, full of monologues, repeated short scenes and hastily-scrawled signs that comment on what’s happening. How are you? Okay. Yeah? I think so. I think so!

“I started working on this script in 2002, after a close childhood friend died, and I had an encounter with a monk from a small order called The Little Brothers Of Jesus. I’ve written, re-written and workshopped the piece several times, and mostly what I came up with wasn’t very good. It’s taken this long to get it to where I’d like people to see it, because the subjects are personal and fraught. I’m glad we waited.”

Written by Aaron Landsman. Directed by Mallory Catlett. Production Management, Set and Sound Design by Jim Findlay. Lighting design by Chris Kuhl. Costume Design by Enver Chakartash. Choreography by Johanna S. Meyer. Live Music by Christian Gibbs, performed with Anton Sword. Props Design by Jake Denney. Assistant Director: Rachel Karp. Stage Manager: Kelly Allen. Technical Director: Joseph Silovsky.

Performed by Kate Benson, Juliana Francis and James Himmelsbach.

“In ‘Running Away From the One With the Knife,’ a Suicide Pondered” – Alexis Soloski, New York Times

Running Away From The One With The Knife – Helen Shaw, Time Out New York