

Letters from Max: A Book of Friendship
Sarah Ruhl
Awards & Recognition
Nominee: 2023 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play Nominee: Two 2023 Lucille Lortel Awards
An adaptation of Sarah Ruhl and Max Ritvo’s 2018 epistolary book, Letters from Max: A Poet, a Teacher, a Friendship , this intimate, poetic play explores the relationship between Sarah and her former student, Max.
With humor, lyricism and candor, the two friends share letters and poems as Max faces terminal illness and tests poetry’s capacity to put to words what otherwise feels ineffable.
"Intimate... a work about art and death and about how art deals with death."
— New York Stage Review
"Affecting... This epistolary play sends the message that a life cut short can call us to embrace our own lives and—as Max tells Sarah in a dream—to feel them swaying."
— Time Out NY
"Ruhl’s warm and literary new play adapted from the book, is in no way a pity narrative. It’s a theatrical act of remembrance and a sacrament of grief, but it’s also a comedy... go see the play, and feel their relationship alive and tingling."
— The New York Times
"Luminous... It is amazing how effortlessly these missives manage to capture their divergent personalities... there's a beautiful honesty to the whole thing... In creating this grief-stricken send-off, Ruhl gets to chat with her friend once more and keep his mind alive for all of us to appreciate — and we are all the better for it."
— TheaterMania
| Character |
|---|
| Max A student who becomes a teacher (age roughly 20-25). Not soft-spoken. |
| Sarah A teacher who becomes a student (age roughly 35-45). Soft-spoken. |
Sarah Ruhl on Letters from Max
Letters From Max is a play written by Sarah Ruhl and published by Samuel French .
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