Letters from Max

A profound and resonant tribute to the power of writing to make meaning in tragic circumstances.

This theatrical ritual, adapted from Ruhl’s 2018 epistolary book Letters from Max: A Poet, a Teacher, a Friendship, weaves together poems and letters between celebrated playwright Sarah Ruhl and poet Max Ritvo, Ruhl’s student who died of cancer at age 25. When 20-year-old Max asks to join Ruhl’s playwriting course at Yale despite having no experience writing plays, Ruhl accepts him, explaining that “funny poets are my favorite kind of human being.” The two become fast friends, and when Max’s childhood cancer recurs, their correspondence deepens, taking in poetic theory and dramatic construction as well as the steady schedule of doctor’s visits and chemotherapy sessions that more and more make up Max’s life. Still, Ritvo approaches his new situation with the inventiveness and humor we’ve come to expect from him. Far from the “Lifetime movie story of poor cancer boy and his wise, brilliant, loving mentor” that Ritvo feared their story would become, this play is never maudlin or sentimental, but is instead warm, literate, and very funny.