Sarah Ruhl

Sarah Ruhl
Born	1974 (age 42–43) Wilmette, Illinois
Residence	New York City, New York
Alma mater	Brown University Pembroke College, Oxford
Occupation	Playwright
Spouse(s)	Tony Charuvastra (m. 2005)
Awards	MacArthur Fellowship

Sarah Ruhl (born 1974) is an American playwright. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for a distinguished American playwright in mid-career. Two of her plays have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama — The Clean House (2004) and In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) (2009).

Ruhl was born in Wilmette, Illinois. Her mother, Kathleen Ruhl, earned a Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Rhetoric, from the University of Illinois and became an English teacher, as well as an actress and a theatre director. Her father, Patrick Ruhl, became a marketer of toys, with an appreciation for literature and music. Her older sister, Kate, is a psychiatrist.

Ruhl began her "dramatic training" at the Piven Theatre Workshop (Evanston, Illinois) in fourth grade. Joyce Piven, the theatre's matriarch said: “The Piven Theatre Workshop was a major influence on Sarah, and I’m old enough not to be modest about it."

Originally, Ruhl intended to be a poet. However, after she studied under Paula Vogel at Brown University, she was persuaded to switch to playwriting. Her first play was The Dog Play, written in 1995 for one of Vogel's classes. At Brown University she earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1997 and Master of Fine Arts in 2001. She also did graduate work at Pembroke College, Oxford.

The Lady with the Lap Dog, and Anna Around the Neck (adapted from Anton Chekhov) were commissioned and produced by the Piven Theatre Workshop in 2001. The two plays are Ruhl's stage adaptions of Anton Chekov short stories.

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