The Canadian Premiere of
Letters From Max, a ritual
By Sarah Ruhl
Based on the book by Sarah Ruhl and Max Ritvo
Don’t miss the Canadian Premiere of Sarah Ruhl's new play, Letters From Max, a ritual an adaptation of her award-winning 2018 book. This New York Times Critic’s Pick brings to life the profound connection and friendship between playwright and MacArthur Fellow Sarah Ruhl, and her student, poet Max Ritvo.
Letters From Max, a ritual chronicles Ruhl’s and Ritvo’s epistolary journey together. Their correspondence sparks with humour, urgency, and humanity in the face of the return of Ritvo’s Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of paediatric cancer.
“Studded with poems and songs, Letters From Max is a deeply moving portrait of a friendship, and a shimmering exploration of love, art, mortality, and the afterlife.”
New York Times Critic’s Pick
★★★★ Timeout New York
★★★★ The New York Theatre Guide
Photo Gallery
Sarah Ruhl is an award-winning American playwright, author, essayist, and professor. Her plays include The Oldest Boy, Dear Elizabeth, Stage Kiss, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2010); The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2005; Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2004); Passion Play (Pen American Award, Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center); Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play); Melancholy Play; Demeter in the City (nine NAACP Image Award nominations); Scenes From Court Life; How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday; Eurydice; Orlando; and Late: a cowboy song. Her plays have been produced on Broadway and across the country as well as internationally, and translated into fourteen languages. Originally from Chicago, Ms. Ruhl received her M.F.A. from Brown University, where she studied with Paula Vogel. She is the recipient of a Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a PEN Center Award for mid-career playwrights, a Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, and a Lilly award. She is a member of 13P and New Dramatists and won the MacArthur Fellowship in 2006. She teaches at Yale School of Drama and lives in Brooklyn with her family.
CONTENT NOTE
Mature language, cancer and death by terminal illness.
TICKET PRICES
To ensure accessibility to this production, Necessary Angel invites you to pay what you can afford. You can pick any one of three prices – $30, $45, $60 whichever suits your budget. There are limits on the number of tickets available at each price point, and all tickets are general admission. Pick the price you would like for your ticket. The higher price-points help to keep tickets accessible for everyone. Thanks for your support, and we’ll see you at the theatre.
Season Sponsor
Production Support
Letters From Max, a ritual
A Necessary Angel Theatre Company Production
November 10 to December 3, 2023
Opening night is November 15
The Theatre Centre,
1115 Queen St W,
Toronto, ON M6J 1J1
CAST
Maev Beaty
Jesse LaVercombe
CREATIVE TEAM
Alan Dilworth | Director
Michelle Tracey | Set & Costumes Designer
Rebecca Picherack | Lighting Designer
Debashis Sinha | Sound Designer
Rick Banville | Production Manager
Scarlett Larry | Stage Manager
PHOTO: Maev Beaty and Jesse LaVercombe
