Playwright Sarah Ruhl has been named the recipient of this year’s Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, The New York Times reports. The prize, which “celebrates career excellence in American theater,” comes with $200,000.
“I just burst into tears,” Ruhl said. “These awards that you don’t apply for where they just rain down on you like manna from the heavens — the generosity is so shocking.”
Ruhl was nominated for a Tony Award for her play “In The Next Room, or the vibrator play,” which chronicled the invention of the vibrator and how doctors used it as a clinical device to bring women to orgasm as treatment for “hysteria.” She is also a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Her newest play, “How to Transcend a Happy Marriage,” will debut at the Lincoln Center Theater in March, 2017. The play, the Times writes, “tracks two couples following a younger, polyamorous woman into a partying spree.” Rebecca Taichman, a frequent collaborator of Ruhl’s, will direct.
“One question that the play poses is, how many people can a great love include? How inclusive can love be?” Ruhl said.
Ruhl told the Times that one of the ways in which she would use the award money would be to start a seed fund for child care for parents in the theater community. Work-life balance, particularly for women with children, is a serious and ongoing conversation. With the U.S. lacking in substantial maternity leave or child care policies, Ruhl’s efforts will no doubt be appreciated by those who can take advantage of them.
