Letters From Max

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Letters From Max

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  1w, 1m

By Sarah Ruhl
Based on a correspondence with Max Ritvo

In this intimate, poetic play, a stage adaptation of Sarah Ruhl and Max Ritvo’s 2018 epistolary book, Sarah and her former student Max share letters and poems candidly addressing his terminal illness with humor and lyricism.

Image: 2023 Signature Theatre Company Production (Joan Marcus)

Letters From Max

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    1w, 1m
  • Duration
    Duration
    120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Adaptation (Literature)
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades
  • Nominee: 2023 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play

Details

Summary
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.
History
Letters from Max premiered off-Broadway at the Pershing Square Signature Center's Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre on 7 February 2023. Directed by Kate Whoriskey, the production featured Jessica Hecht as Sarah, with Ben Edelman and Zane Pais alternating in the role of Max.
Keywords
Performing Groups
SARAH – A teacher who becomes a student (age roughly 35-45). Soft-spoken.
MAX – A student who becomes a teacher (age roughly 20-25). Not soft-spoken.
  • Time Period Contemporary, Present Day
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • Strong Language

Media

“Warm and literary... a theatrical act of remembrance and a sacrament of grief, but it’s also a comedy.” – The New York Times

“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

Photos

  • Letters From Max

    Image: 2023 Signature Theatre Company Production (Joan Marcus)

  • Letters From Max

    Image: 2023 Signature Theatre Company Production (Joan Marcus)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £85 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

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Authors

Sarah Ruhl

Sarah Ruhl

Sarah Ruhl’s plays include In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, The Clean House, Passion Play, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Melancholy Play, For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday, The Oldest Boy, Stage Kiss, Dear Elizabeth, Eurydice, How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, Orlando, Late ...

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Max Ritvo

Max Ritvo
Max Ritvo (1990-2016) wrote Four Reincarnations in New York and Los Angeles over the course of a long battle with cancer. He was also the author of The Final Voicemails, edited and introduced by Louise Glück, and co-authored Letters from Max with Sarah Ruhl; both books were p ...
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