100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write

"Ruhl writes pithy ruminations on language, art, and theater with a roving intelligence and compassion that are refreshingly accessible." —Tomi Obaro, Chicago Magazine

This is a book in which chimpanzees, Chekhov, and child care are equally at home. A vibrant, provocative examination of the possibilities of the theater, it is also a map to a very particular artistic sensibility, and an unexpected guide for anyone who has chosen an artist's life.


Sarah Ruhl is a mother of three and one of America's best-known playwrights. She has written a stunningly original book of essays whose concerns range from the most minimal and personal subjects to the most encompassing matters of art and culture. The titles themselves speak to the volume's uniqueness: "On lice," "On sleeping in the theater," "On motherhood and stools (the furniture kind)," "Greek masks and Bell's palsy."

"Probing, bracing, and captivating . . . a cornucopia of compact, playfully profound observations on life in and out of theater." —Lisa Shea, Elle
"Sample the acclaimed playwright's bite-size musings on Ovid, lice, the relationship between chimpanzees and subscriber audiences, and 97 other topics. They take only a minute to read, but will linger with you much longer." —Natalie Beach, O Magazine
"A work of profound moral organization . . . its deeper purpose is to define the artist's relationship to truth and to demonstrate how, from within the correctness of the artistic process, life can be meaningfully understood." —Rachel Cusk, The New York Times Book Review