Scar treatment

It takes a lot to be able to slit your own wrists and enjoy it. That’s the premise of Ben Moroski’s autobiographical account of his long struggle as a self-harming cutter. KOLT Run Creations produced Moroski’s intimate one-man show This Vicious Minute, which tackles the issue with incredible candor.

Moroski speaks from years of experience. His tale is not uncommon, it is just rarely told. He uses anecdotes to tell his history, including stories of an abusive relationship with God and vivid, flashing glimpses at life inside a psychiatric ward.

Onstage, he commands the audience with little effort as he plays raconteur, flowing easily from joke to dramatic observation to horrific reality check and never losing the crowd along the way. Like clockwork, laughs turn to wide-eyed silence as Moroski depicts his own vicious minutes.

It would be easy for a one-man show like this to revel in the horror of the actions described, but Moroski’s intense script is more important than that. It depicts a point of view that not many people consider, and that is what makes it hit home so hard.

Moroski does not seem like a quiet, closeted person who shies away from society. Rather, he appears as an athletic, handsome, well-spoken man. To discover that he had—still does, actually—a problem with razors is surprising, but not nearly as surprising as the intimacy the audience is granted.

This is not a play for everyone. Those who easily get squeamish should stay home; for everyone else, this multiple Hollywood Fringe Festival Award winner definitely deserves your buck.